Fiscal 2018 budget request. Id like to bell coupwelcome ou, secretary of state tillerson. After opening statements, well hear from the secretary. Well accept your written testimony and anything you would like to tell us personally. So this is going to be a little bit longer than normal. This is a very important issue for the country. Passion of mine. I like the way you represent our country. I think you have a style thats pretty good for the world as it is today. Youre a man of few words. I think when you talk, people listen. Your view of qatar i share, what youre doing in north korea is beginning to penetrate. Just met with the chinese. I think they get your message. I think youre looking for ways to people to get to yes and always leaving back doors to hard situations. So in terms of your style and your attitude towards the job, i very much appreciate it. As to the budget, were hear today because the budget balances in ten years. We need to increase defense spending. But once you do that, then if youre not going to deal with entitlements, you have to go to defense Discretionary Spending to find the offsets. This account gets pretty much devastated. Im not blaming you. Im not blaming anybody. I just want the country to know i think this budget request is in many ways radical and reckless when it comes to soft power and i look forward to working with you, mr. Secretary, to find a better budget, but also to find a better state department. Youve just gotten there. Youve been there a few months. A year from now, i think youll have a better understanding of how the state department can be reformed and i intend to be your partner and champion to reform the state department. Give it a good once over. See what works, what doesnt. How many people do we actually need. All of that is long overdue. I welcome that kind of analysis. But what we have today is a number basically driven by the requirement to balance the budget, increase defense spending and this account gets hit pretty hard. I dont think as a result of scrutiny of how the state Department Works as much as budget pressure. Given from increased military spending. So the first chart i have is to my right. If you dont fund the state department fully, then i need to buy more ammunition. General mattis. And i think we have other generals cutting the International Affairs budget unilaterally. We have the effect of disabling our countrys capability, stop new conflicts from forming, the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk. 16 retired four star generals. I believe after 42 trips to iraq and afghanistan were never going to win this war by killing terrorists alone. That there has to be soft power connection. That the day after you have to hold. And the terrorists offer a glorious death and we must offer a hopeful life. Usda included to give the capability the day after to form a better life for those who are having to choose between terrorism and modern thought. I believe as the generals do, if you dont believe me, listen to the generals, that the state departments role in the war on terror is just as important to me, just as important as any military power we have. Now, how much do we spend on soft power . We spend 1. 4 . So a lot of people think foreign aids about 25 of what we spend. But compared to hard power, which is about 20 of what we spend, we spend a very small amount on soft power. That 1. 4 includes things beyond just traditional soft power. I want the country to know if you eliminated the state department, you would not even begin to move the debt needle. The question is, if you cripple the state department, its not about debt, its about security and American Values being impeded. So lets look at gdp on defense. And nondefense. What you see is the gdp on hard powers about 3 of gdp. On socft power. And this chart shows you were going downward dramatically on soft power and upward on hard power. So comparison of dod state department workforce. How many people do we have in the hard power world and soft power world . Okay. You see over here the numbers of state usid, which is a very small percentage. And we have well over 1 Million People in uniform. So if you believe soft powers important and the generals tell me you do, look at the balance. So heres what i would suggest. We do need more hard power because sequestrations hurt hard power. But youre going to have a hard time convincing me that soft power can stand a 29 cut. And well talk about that more. Thats the comparability of the workforce basically. International Affairs Budget historically. Look here. Look at the big drop in 2018. Plus, up in 2017. The worlds gone to hell in a hand cart. Now, our response is to increase hard power. Which i agree with. But at 29 reduction in hard power in 2018 doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Given the role soft power plays according to the generals is this wise . I really dont think so. Embassy security funding. We all remember benghazi. Look at this reduction in funding for security of our embassies. All i could say, given the threats that i see, nows not the time to decrease Embassy Security funding unless youre going to really close a lot of embassies. Im not sure nows the time to be closing a lot of embassies. Hiv aids. One last thing. Heres what the benghazi accountability review board told us. For the state department to be miss driven rather than resource con stained. So heres the question. The Mission State department and a world falling apart, is it greater or smaller . If you think its greater, than the budget should follow the need. Not just some artificial number. All right. Lets go to hiv aids. As a republican, i am proud of president 43 bush. Who came up with a program called pet far supported by almost every democrat, president obama continued this, and as you can see, in the return on the dollar for the pet far program has been absolutely astounding. Millions of Young Africans are alive today because of the pet far program. Mother to child aids transmission has gone down about 75 . Every american taxpayer should be pleased that your hardearned dollars went to a continent being consumed by a vicious disease called aids and were beginning to turn the corner. Were not there yet. But there are five countries who are going to be selfsufficient and this budget cuts it by 1 billion when were inside the 10 yard line. I could give you the numbers of what it means to the programs, but theres a lot, hundreds of thousands of people will not be treated because of this budget cut. I think its just a penny wise and a pound foolish. Humanitarian assistance. 65 Million People forcefully displaced worldwide. Thats the highest level in modern history. Who role does state play in this . 20 Million People are currently at risk of famine. So you have famine and you have manmade wars and disasters. Look what were doing with the assistance. Were cutting it at a time when disast disast Disaster Assistance needs are at an alltime high. Cutting by 3. 4 billion. 77 below the 2017 numbers. The terrorists love this. The terrorists hate the idea that america shows up with some food and education. From a terrorist point of view, this is really a recruiting tool. From an American Point of view, weve got to fix this problem because if we cut back, other people follow and youre going to pay now or pay later. Youre going to deal with these people now while they can still be helped or wind up killing them later when the young people become terrorists. So got a real problem with that one. Georgia, not my neighbor georgia, the country. For the record, i like the people in georgia. Georgia is fighting in afghanistan without any caveats. Theyre one of the few countries that go to afghanistan to partner with our soldiers and do whatever we ask them to do. Theyve died in fairly large numbers. They have absolutely no restrictions on their force to help us win a war in afghanistan we cant afford to lose. Their neighbors a pretty bad ombre, the russians. Im not going to bore you with telling you what russians been doing to their friends in the region, particularly georgia, but its not good. What signali are we sending to georgia when we cut their assistant 66 . At a time when russias on the prowl and we need more help in afghanistan, not less. This just really is the wrong message to our friends and certainly the wrong message to russia. I am at a loss of why we would cut aid to georgia given what russias doing in the region now and im at loss of why wed want to send a signal to people who are sending their troops to afghanistan without any conditions. Sri lanka. Small place. This, within 20 miles of sea lanes that carry over twothirds of the worlds Oil Shipments and half the worlds container cargo. Chinas a big player there. Just ended a 26year conflict. Democratic progress is in our interest to have a democracy that close to the worlds shipping lanes. Chinas a competitor. And unfortunately, were reducing our assistance to sri lanka. As china is going all in. Not a wise move. Now, this is to you, mr. Secretary. I think you ran one of the best businesses in the world. Youre a really smart guy. But heres whats on your plate. That i could think of. Isis. Youre going to beat them momentarily, but if you dont have a plan for the day after, were going to lose again. What do you do with raqqah . What do you do with Anbar Province . How do you hold it . So defeating isis permanently has to have a hold and bill strategy. Thats where usaid and all your really smart people come into play. Qatar. If you read the oped today from the uae ambassador, things are not going well. You got qatar right from our point of view. You got 10,000 airmen and soldiers there. We cant let this get its of hand. Youre going to be pretty busy with qatar. Russia. Dont have time to talk about whats on your plate with russia, its just a lot. Syria. If we can ever find a way to end the war, it will be in geneva and youll be at the table trying to find a way to put syria back together to make sure that the war doesnt start again in lebanon and jordan dont fall because of endless war. The resources necessary to repair the damage in syria makes iraq look like a walk in the park. And part of those resources will be you and your talented people who will go in there and help the Syrian People deal with the devastation. North korea. I like what youre doing in north korea. I dont think were out of the woods yet. So youre going to be a busy guy. 65 billion people displaced on your watch. By the way, the war in afghanistan. We need more soldiers. I think the president s going to give the gem generals what they want. We also have to make sure the soldiers sacrifice is not forsaken because you better have a plan to rebuild those areas weve lost from the taliban once we take it back or were going to lose them again, so thats where your people come in. The president said the Iranian Nuclear agreement is terrible and he wants to replace it. If you have nothing else to do but that, that would be a full time job. Good luck. The ukraine. Doesnt seem to be Getting Better to me. China. I really like what youre doing with china regarding north korea. I think youre making it real to the chinese. They Better Change their game because president trumps not going to allow them to get a missile near our homeland. You got a pretty good approach. But chinas tough. 20 Million People impacted by famine. And they tell me were going to start the middle east Peace Process all over again. You the man. Youre going to do all that and cut the budget by 29 . Thank you for coming. I was going to be tough. What ill start off by saying is, like he said, i agree with senator graham. We worked together on this subcommittee for a long time. Part of the time hes been chairman. Part of the time, ive been chairman. Usually the bills we brought out of here have got a virtually unanimous vote. Republicans and democrats. Because we care about it. Let me just read a few passages from a may 25th guest column in the new york times. Colin powell who served as chairman of the joint cheech ch staff under president george h. W. Bush and secretaclinton an secretary of state under george w. Bush. He wrote, i quote, our best at being a great nation has always been a commitment to building a better, safer world. Not just for ourselves but for our children and grandchildren. This is meant leading the world in the advance of the cause of peace, responding when disease and disaster strike. Lifting millions out of poverty. Inspiring those yearning for freedom. This calling is under threat. Administrations proposal to slash approximately 30 from the state department and foreign assistance budget signals an american retreat. Proposal to bring resources for our civilian forces to a third of what we spent at the height of Ronald Reagans peace restraint years. It will be internationally irresponsible. Distressing our friends, encouraging our enemies. Undermining our own economic and National Security interest. The idea of putting America First requires withdrawal from the world is simply wrong headed. He goes on to speak on his own experience. Many thought the end of the cold war would allow us to retreat. Do we really want to slash the state department and the usaid at such a perilous moment . No. What were saying, were talking about making america great, well, were talking about were stepping aside. Let other countries come in, fill the vacuum, make the United States irrelevant. I like to think our values are the relevant ones, not relevant countries. I want to know why you may disagree. Obviously you do disagree with secretary powell. Believe that eliminating thousands of personnel position, cutting billions of dollars from programs administrated by the department of state usaid is in our best interest. I would ask the chairman to put the powell article in objection. Without objection. Secretary powell also said that many would assume the cold wars end would allow us to retreat from the world cuts that may have looked logical at the time came back to haunt us. As tensions rose in the middle east, africa, the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere. Confronting such challenges requires not just the military thats second to none but also our resource with diplomats and aid workers. I think general powell and others have said much of the world has looked to the United States for leadership. Were walking away from that leadership. Let somebody else take over. We go around talking about well, look at the huge amount of money we spend on foreign aid. Its a little over 1 of our budget on a per capita basis, a lot of countries spend more. Why would we give up that input . Does that make us safer . Why do we want to let some of these totalitarian regimes expand their influence versus american influence . Does that make us safer . Does it make us safer if we allow epidemics to accelerate around the world . Does it make us safer if we dont do anything to help with the refugee situation thats overwhelming allies of ours like jordan . Does it make us any safer if we pretend we can go fortress america . Remember how well that worked . And 9 11, when saudi arabia sent so many people to fly airplanes. Into the twin towers. We faced a terrible we faced a terrible terrorist attack, one of the worst ever in this country, by an american, in Oklahoma City. Now suddenly we face it with saudis coming in here, saudi citizens. Were not we cant be fortress america. We face problems at home of course. Use Oklahoma City as an example. We face problems from abroad. Those who came from saudi arabia and destroyed the twin towers. So i dont need to give you a speech, but i want you to know i agree with the chairman. And we have very strong views on this. Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours. Thank you for coming. Thank you, chairman graham. Ranking member leahy. Distinguished members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the administrations state department and usaid budget request for fiscal year 2018. Americas Global Competitive challenge. The dedicated men and women of the state department and usaid carry out the important and often perilous work of advancing americas interest every single day, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That mission is unchanged. However, the state department and usaid, like many other institutions here at home and around the world, have not evolved in their responsiveness as quickly as new challenges and threats to our National Security have changed and our changing. We are challenged to respond to a post cold war world that set in motion new global dynamics. And a post9 11 world characterized by historic threats that present themselves in ways never seen before enabled by technological tools that we have been illprepared to engage. The 21st century has already presented many evolving challenges to the u. S. National security and economic prosperity. We must develop proactive responses to protect and advance the interest of the American People. With such a broad array of threats facing the United States, the fiscal year 2018 budget request of 37. 6 billion aligns with the administrations objective of making americas security our top priority. The first responsibility of government is the security of its own citizens. We will orient our diplomatic efforts towards fulfilling that commitment. While our mission will also be focused on advancing the economic interests of the American People, the state departments primary focus will be to protect our citizens at home and abroad. Our mission is at all times guided by our longstanding values of freedom, democracy, individual liberty and human dignity. The conviction of our countrys founders is enduring. That all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. We hold high the aspiration that all will one free madoms we have known. We are motivated by the conviction the more we engage with other nations on issues of security and prospe