And it is all bidens fault. Okay. Joe murray there in arizona, related to the documents. This, from yesterday in politico, sing four months after the fbi raided his maralago estate, Donald Trumps attorneys found documents in his personal bedroom. That revelation was among several cited by the u. S. Judge in the newly unsealed two dozen 23 opinion that found prosecutors presented compelling evidence that mr. Trump knowingly stashed National Security documents at home and try to conceal them when the Justice Department try to reveal them. That is in politico. The followup story from the Associated Press said that it was the fbi on tuesday said the search for the former president s the purpose of this hearing is to discuss the state departments fy25. Your mic is on private. Spoke of the button is on. Is it working now . Now we are good. The purpose of this hearing is to discuss the state departments fy25 budget request and explore the myriad of challenges facing the United States and its diplomats around the globe. I now recognize myself for the Opening Statement. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here today. As you know, we are living in dangerous times. The world is on fire. We are witnessing the largest land invasion in europe since world war ii. The middle east is on the brink of a fullscale war and increasingly aggressive china is testing our resolve as they look to invade taiwan. The similarities between a war in europe and increased aggression in the indo pacific are dangerously parallel to the events leading up to world war ii. Russia, china, and iran are all connected, in their efforts to destroy freedom and democracy. Weakness invites aggression and are adversaries see that. It all began with the fall of afghanistan. It was catastrophic and will remain a stain on American Foreign policy for generations. Despite warnings from the dod and intelligence community, the state department, mr. Secretary failed in its execution. Weakness on the world stage. Shortly after the withdrawal, we saw the satellite imagery of the Russian Federation amassing troops on the ukrainian border. Then we failed to provide the ukrainians with the assistance they needed until after the invasion. Out of fear of provoking the russians, the administration slow walked weapons necessary for ukraine to win giving them just enough to bleed out but not for victory. A fear of provocation bound American Foreign policy, the nazis never wouldve been defeated. The berlin wall would still feel at stand and Nuclear Missiles would still be in cuba. American leadership must never be dictated by the whims of despots. Thats why i have mandated the administration and the supplemental bill send long range Weapon Systems to ukraine as soon as possible to ensure a victory. When it comes to china, we have failed to establish deterrence necessary to counter the threat of the ccp. We now know that china is supporting the Russia Defense industrial base. Failure to project strength on the world stage has only led to an increasingly hostile china. Weapons i signed off on five years ago for taiwan have yet to be delivered to that country. I am also disappointed that the president failed to certify exemptions on the april 19 deadline. This Trilateral Partnership as you know is key to deterring china. He is watching. I believe he is the only one satisfied with this administrations actions. Finally, we are on the brink of a total destabilization in the middle east. Israel is in a fight for its very existence from the terrorist threat of hamas, hezbollah, and iran. During their darkest hour what did this administration do . They turned its back on our ally. President bidens decision to withhold weapons proved approved and appropriated by this congress is tantamount to an arms embargo. This administration is preventing israel from their final key military objective of taking out the remaining battalions. We need to put maximum pressure on iran and its proxies. By not enforcing energy sanctions iran has over 80 billion in revenue. We have appeased the ayatollah and funded his operations including their ability to attack israel directly which they did for the first time in history by projecting weakness on the world stage this administration has invited increased aggression. So why is it after this administration came into office that we have a war in ukraine. A war in the middle east and a potential war in the indo pacific. Why are we limiting our ability to win wars they did not start. Mr. Secretary, redlines are for our enemies. Not for our allies and friends. You go back to chamberlain, churchill. We know that appeasement only invites aggression, conflict, and war. Church hill proved that to us. Ronald reagan taught us peace through strength. I believe it is time we returned to the world reagan doctrine of peace through strength. With that, i yelled the balance of my time. Other members of the committee are reminded that Opening Statements be be submitted for the record. We are pleased to have the secretary of state Antony Blinken before us today. Your full statement will be made part of the record. I ask that you keep your remarks to five minutes. I will enforce the gavel with all members so that all members can participate. With that i now recognize secretary blinken for his Opening Statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. It is very good to be with you today. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I think you also for the partnership we have had to advance American Leadership in the world. Leadership that is so essential to delivering on the priorities that matter to our people. The need for u. S. Global leadership and the need for cooperation and collaboration of allies and partners has never been greater. We have the peoples republic of china pursuing military, economic, geopolitical preeminence challenging our vision for a free, open and secure process. It is not only against ukraine but against the principles that we try to that are the Building Blocks for global peace and security. In the middle east we are standing with israel to ensure that what would happen on october 7 never happens again as we do everything we can to bring to an end the suffering in gaza and prevent the conflict from spreading. Leadership is needed to address humanitarian crises elsewhere including in sudan, haiti, other places where millions have been displaced and many have been killed but also to address global issues that no country can solve alone such as Food Insecurity, changing the climate, president ial corruption, the fentanyl crisis. With the support of congress we can and we are approaching these challenges from a position of strength. Because of the actions we have taken the United States a stronger economically, diplomatically than it was a few years ago. We have made historic investments at home. We have renewed alliances, built new ones, secured unprecedented alignment on the challenges of our time. We have delivered essentially to ukraine. The United States rallied 50 countries around the world to make sure it would not be erased from the map. We have rallied the International Community to share the burden. For every dollar we have sent, others have collectively invested three more. Now any doubt of bipartisan support for ukraine and others can endure. Last Month Congress demonstrated to the world that we will not pull back and you passed the budget request by an overwhelming margin. The investment does not come with the expense of strength here at home. Far from it. Most of it is being spent in the United States building up the Defense Industrial base supporting Good American jobs. We need to keep up the momentum that requires a state Department Budget that will fully resource the response to the challenges of this time. Of the president s fy 25 budget it does that in two keyways. First, it funds the essential missions of our department. It will ensure that the United States continues to be the part partner of choice for countries when they need to solve big problems that also affect our own security and economic wellbeing. In an era of renewed competition we need to present the strongest possible that is relevant and responsive to the needs and advances our security and economic interest. That is why we are requesting 2 billion for a new fund to build highquality sustainable infrastructure around the world. Crucial investments like these create good jobs here in america. We are requesting resources for the world bank. With 1 billion in u. S. Funding we can unlock another 36 billion in capacity to direct to the Top Priorities of emerging economies. Its an enormous return on investment and essential for competing with china and around the world. It also includes 1. 7 million for organizations to help shape them in ways that reflect our interest in values. We are asking for 500 million to give more people around the world access to secure internet, digital technologies. Doing so will support our own economy through the export of Technology Products in the United States to ensure that we and our fellow democracies remain the leaders and standardbearers when it comes to key technologies like artificial intelligence. The budget includes funding to address global issues that affect the lives and livelihoods of the American People as well as around the world. Especially the synthetic drug crisis. It also funds our response to migration, global Food Insecurity, health and energy security. Problems that may be taking place in other parts of the world but we know what happens on the far end of the world will come back to bite us if it is not addressed and addressed effectively including with our engagement. We are asking congress to fully fund the educational and cultural stages. They are one of the best, most costeffective tools that we have for enhancing our values around the world. They support students, researchers, Young Professionals studying at home and abroad. We need to guard against attempts by competitors to spread disinformation and misinformation around the world. Global Engagement Center is critical. It is a critical tool for capturing the threat of information manipulation by china, russia, and others and we urge you to extend the sunsetting clause before the coming months. To outcompete our rivals we need to invest in the foundation of our strength abroad and the diplomatic corps. The budget makes a strong investment in expanding our overseas presence in the Pacific Islands and eastern caribbean. We will continue our modernization of american diplomacy. We very have reorganize the department to make sure that we are ready for the challenges of this time whether that comes to dealing with new technologies, Global Health, climate, dealing with china. We are making the necessary investments to try to attract and maintain the most talented workforce possible. We are investing in our people in washington with training and technology. We are honing my agility, innovation, and efficiency. Last years enacted budget represented a 5 cut from the year before. That challenges our efforts to deliver results to congress and the American People. We are urging you to support this budget with helps to address the most pressing Foreign Policy alums of our time and lays the foundation to continue the strong engagement and leadership in the years ahead. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. As you know we have been conducting an investigation into the afghanistan withdraw. We will be releasing a report of that in september. Will you commit to appearing before this committee for a hearing on the afghanistan. We have had the top brass of the pentagon do so and i think the goldstar families deserve that as well. Mr. Chairman, for the goldstar families, for the president , for me, for everyone involved, we grieve with them. The losses they suffer including over 20 years in afghanistan. We honor their sacrifice. One of the ways we do that is by taking part in oversight, answering questions, giving the American People the answers they deserve. We have engaged in very good faith in this. I think by our count we have facilitated transcribed interviews with 15 current and former my time is limited. Is that a yes . I have appeared before this committee five times including one time dedicated solely to afghanistan but another time taking questions. That is more than any of my predecessors have done. We look forward to your testimony in september. We can have our teams talk about that. Thank you. You testified before the Senate ForeignRelations Committee yesterday that you denounced the arrest warrants against israels leaders and committed to working with congress on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response. I have been working with the speaker and the Ranking Member and others in the senate on potential proposed legislation to address the issue. Will you commit to working with this committee to find a bipartisan bill that would place meaningful sanctions on the International Criminal court . First let me say again that the decision was totally wrong in any equivalents that apply between hamas and israel and its leaders were shameful. We commit to engaging on a bipartisan basis and finding an appropriate response. I completely agree with you on that. Earlier this month the president stated on cnn that if israel conducted a Major Military operation in rafah that we are not going to provide weapons and artillery. Is this still the stance and what to you plan to withhold . First, nobodys done more than President Biden and nobody will do more to make sure israel can defend itself. He was there days after the attack, the first president to go to israel when it was under attack. In the time after that he made sure we deployed resources and assets to deter any further aggression from other borders which was very much a threat. We all know the history of it. I you planning to withhold weapons. It is also important to note that when he brought conducted an attack for the first time. We actively took part for the First Time Ever in israels defense and rally the coalition. That does not answer my question. I am happy to do that, mr. Chairman. When it comes to rafah we have made known for a long time our concerns about a military assault and the damage that could do to the civilian population absent a clear and credible plan to protect it. Also to achieve the results that we and israel both want which is to deal effectively and directly with hamas. In that context particularly with regard to 2000 pound bombs which in a dense urban environment can do terrible damage weve been in discussions with israel about that particular weapon in those discussions continue. They are private discussions. They continue and our concerns about a full on military assault in rafah remain. We have other ways dealing with the challenge posed that we believe can be more effective and more durable. Let me just ask you this. We did not find out about withholding the weapons until he saw the interview on cnn. Congress was never notified of this decision. We just marked up a bill out of committee that requires advance notification. If you decide to withhold more weapons from israel which i would say was the intent of congress when we passed the supplemental and when i approved these weapons, would you at least give us advance notification. We have gone out of our way and well above and beyond in previewing for congress i had no notification nor did anyone in this committee or congress until he saw the president on cnn. That is hardly an adequate native way to notify congress. Lastly, ukraine. We have a really bad situation going on as you know. This is a sanctuary zone that the russians have created. What they are doing is lining up all of their artillery and rockets and missiles just across the Ukraine Border that they then use to attack ukrainians. However, the administration have restricted the arms use so that ukraine cannot defend itself and fire back at russia. Thats why its mandated in the supplemental the longrange, short range and high mars that your administration is tying their hands behind their back not unlike what you are trying to do in israel. Will you change this policy so ukraine can fight without one hand tied behind its back . As you know we have rallied 50 countries over the last two years to come to the defense of ukraine and provide them with the weapons they need to defend themselves against russian aggression. When it comes to enabling and endorsing the attacks outside of ukraine, that is not something we have done but ukraine will have to and will make its own decisions and i want to make sure they get the equipment that they need. Congress got them the equipment. Thank you for implementing that the congress did not put restrictions on the use of these weapons. It is Jake Sullivan and your administration that has but the restrictions on these weapons. I talked to them and they cannot achieve victory with these restrictions that you, not the congress have placed on them. I hope that you will take