Again were live on capitol hill this morning awaiting remarks from secretary of state john kerry. Hes testifying here before the House Foreign Affairs committee. Likely to discuss the ukraine conflict with russia. Talks with iran and the use of military force against isis. Secretary kerry was on the hill yesterday as he appeared before the senate. Also this article from the New York Times this morning, secretary of state john kerry sought yesterday to rebut critics of a potential nuclear deal with iran, making his case on capitol hill a week before Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu of israel set to deliver his side in an address to congress. Quote Anyone Running around right now jumping in to say well we dont like the deal or this or that doesnt know what the deal is, mr. Kerry said. There is no deal yet and i caution people to wait and see what these negotiations produce. When Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu of israel arrives next tuesday, cspan will carry live coverage of that, again, on cspan when it starts. Why am i being arrested . The hearing didnt start. Why am i being arrested . The hearing didnt start. Why am i being arrested . The hearing didnt start. Nobody what this hearing will come to order. All members take their seats today we hear from secretary of state john kerry. The secretary is just off yet another overseas trip, dealing with issues that well discuss here today and mr. Secretary, your dedication is clear to all. Secretary kerry comes to present his departments budget requests. Needless to say, given washingtons chronic budget deficit, wasteful spending is intolerable, even good programs may be unsupportable at levels we would want, but we must also appreciate the many serious challenges we as a nation and the department in particular faces worldwide. These challenges seem to grow by the day. Iran and north korea are pursuing Nuclear Weapons. Russia is gobbling up neighboring ukraine. We see beheadings crucifixions and emulation by isis. Cartoonists and jewish shoppers are targeted and killed on paris streets. Indeed, some days it feels as if the world itself is coming off of its axis. Regarding iran all of us want to see mr. Secretary, all of us want to see you get a meaningful lasting agreement. But the committee, as you know has real concerns about the direction of these talks. Im hearing less about dismantlement, and more about the performance of Irans Nuclear program. Thats particularly disturbing when you consider that International Inspectors report that iran has still not revealed its past bomb work. This should be treated as a fundamental test of the ayatollahs intention to uphold any agreement. Iran is failing that test. Also it is still illicitly procuring nuclear technology. Recently iran was caught testing a new generation of supersonic centrifuges. To be frank as this committee reads about us being on the brink of a historic agreement, you have a challenge in terms of congressional buyin. Meanwhile, iran and its proxies are wreaking havoc throughout the region. And in Eastern Europe russias military aggression is matched only by the size of its propaganda. Russia is spending more than one half billion dollars annually to mislead audiences, to sow divisions, to push conspiracy theories out over r. T. Television. Yet the Agency Charged with leading our response the broadcasting board of governors is, as your predecessor testified to us, dysfunctional. Last congress the house passed legislation authored by Ranking Member eliot engel and me to fix the bbg, the broadcasting board of governors. We hope to have the administrations active backing as we again push this reform. And in the middle east, isis is on the march. The administration was tragically slow to react to isis rise missing the chance to devastate them with airstrikes during the first seven months, eight months of isis moving from syria in to iraq town by town, taking these cities, air power was not used to devastate these columns out on the open road as it should have been applied. Today the kurds are still severely outgunned. Our training of the Syrian Opposition isnt off the ground. And arab allies complain they dont have the weapons needed. And while the administration is focused on the fight against isis in iraq today its still unclear what its plans are for syria tomorrow. As the Committee Considers the president s request for a military authorization against isis members need to hear a better articulation of the administrations strategy and see a strong commitment from the commander in chief. As terrorism from islamist terrorist groups spread, the committee knows that that puts more of our diplomats out there at risk. In the past half year the department has had to evacuate staff from two u. S. Embassies, libya, and yemen. On this note the committee stands ready to assist the department on Embassy Security. We passed a state department authorization, and Embassy Security bill last congress and look forward to working with you to get our next bill signed in to law. And as the Department Works to finalize its second quadrennial diplomacy and development review, know that we are ready to assist the department to be more effective and efficient to meet the demands of the 21st centurys diplomacy. We have policy differences but these should never compromise the daytoday operations of your department and certainly not the safety of its personnel. Mr. Secretary, our nation faces great challenges. Through it all, though, we must Work Together to ensure that america maintains its positive, and essential role in the world. That is our challenge. And i will now turn to our Ranking Member mr. Eliot engel of new york for his Opening Statement. Thank you mr. Chairman, mr. Secretary, welcome back. Were fortunate to have you as our top diplomat as we face so many challenges around the world. Whether its violent extremism or nuclear proliferation, Health Epidemics or Climate Change these are challenges that threaten our security and values. And that demands robust investment in International Affairs. Thats why the president has put forward a Strong InternationalAffairs Budget and thats why his proposal deserves the support of congress. The president s budget would end sequestration, something long overdue, including a 7. 7 increase in International Affairs spending. Why is this increase so important . The Kaiser Family foundation reported recently that Many Americans believe we spend much more on foreign assistance than we actually do. Here are the facts. International affairs total just over 1 of our federal budget. And foreign aid accounts for less than 1 . With that narrow sliver of the pie, were keeping americans safe strengthening ties around the world, and promoting American Leadership abroad. Were getting a pretty good bang for our buck. Still, we can always be more effective, more efficient, and more focused. And id like to mention a few of my questions and concerns. Let me start with institutional and bureaucratic challenges at the state department. We need a department that can adopt to evolving Foreign Policy and National Security issues. We need diplomats equipped to deal with constantly changing demands. Are we recruiting the best talent . Do our diplomats have the tools and training they need to do their jobs right . Im curious about how the department will implement the forthcoming recommendations of the quadrennial diplomacy and development review. On our response to the ebola outbreak, mr. Secretary, i want to applaud you. The state department usaid and the thousands of heroic americans who play such an important role. This crisis has required tremendous resources, and our strategy is working. The situation in west africa continues to improve. But we must remain vigilant until this scourge has been eliminated. This crisis underscores the need for Global Health funding. Preventing future epidemics requires investment in research infrastructure, and personnel. So im disappointed by proposed cuts to Global Health programs dealing with tuberculosis neglected tropical diseases and other dangerous illnesses. Id like to find a way to avoid these cuts and keep giving these programs the resources they need. Turning to ukraine. I have serious doubts that the minsk agreement will end this crisis. Weve taken a handful of incremental steps but they have not been enough to get ahead of the crisis or deter further russian aggression. The United States is a major interest in europes stability and security. Decades of American Investment is on the line. I know dealing with the kremlin is delicate, but we must not allow ukraine to lose more territory or to fail economically. In the middle east, more than 11 Million People have been driven from their homes in syria. And more than 200,000 have been killed. This crisis has spilled across borders. Its created largescale vulnerability to Sexual Assault child marriage, hunger and other kinds of abuse and exploit exploitation exploitation. The budget prioritizes this humanitarian disaster, but much more needs to be done by both the United States and regional partners. This cry hayes has been fuelled by political instability in iraq and syria. The new Iraqi Program has taken some steps to make iraqs political system more inclusive. But we remain far from the point at which sunnis shia and kurds feel like they have a stake in iraqs future. The way forward in syria is even less clear. But we know one thing for certain. That countrys future should not include assad. As youve said, mr. Secretary, he is a oneman supermagnet for terrorism. So while we are going after isis or the Islamic State we should not forget that assad must go. He cannot be part of a syria for the future. On that note i welcome the president s decision to send congress a request for a new authorization to use military force aumf against isis. The president s proposal is a reasonable starting point, and this committee will continue our efforts to review the language, and the overall strategy to defeat isis. I look forward to working with you and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure we get this right. Briefly on iran, i said many times that my preference is a negotiated solution to the Iranian Nuclear crisis. However, were hearing troubling reports on the scale and duration of the program that iran may be allowed as part of the deal. As youve said many times mr. Secretary, no deal is better than a bad deal and so we must ensure that iran has no pathway to a Nuclear Weapon and that any deal we sign is a good deal. And finally i want to commend the proposed 1. 1 billion in funding to address root causes of Child Migration from central america. We need to ensure that these resources are targeted towards the most vulnerable communities that the children are coming from across the subregion. And finally getting back to europe, and ukraine, and russia. I really believe that nato hangs in the balance. I think if putin continues to push ukraine around and threaten other countries, and nato is not a sufficient deterrent we are sort of sending the word to putin that were really a paper tiger. So i wish you would talk about that a little bit, because i really do believe the future of nato hangs in the balance. Four countries give 2 of their budget to defense, as is required, and thats very, very troubling in terms of nato. So i thank you mr. Chairman and i look forward to the secretarys testimony. Thank you, mr. Engel. This morning were pleased to be joined by mr. John kerry, the 68th secretary of state. And mr. Secretary, welcome again here to the committee. Without objection, the witness full prepared statement will be made part of the country. And the members here each of you, will have five calendar days to submit any statements or questions or extraneous material for the record you may wish to submit. So mr. Secretary, if you open for five minutes, then well go to the members for their questions. Well, thank you very much mr. Chairman congressman engel, Ranking Member, all the members of this committee. To respect your time i will try to summarize my comments and mr. Chairman i hope i can do it in five minutes. Theres a lot to talk about. And your questions will needless to say elicit an enormous amount of dialogue. Which i really welcome. I cant think of a moment where more is happening, more challenges exist theres more transformation taking place. Some of it with great turmoil. A lot of it with enormous opportunity that doesnt get daily discussion. But all of it with big choices for you. For us. You representing the American People. All of us in positions of major responsibility at this important time. We rose to the occasion, obviously, and we like to extol it. We all talk about it. I did certainly as a senate. I do as secretary of state. And that is the extraordinary contribution of the greatest generation. And what they did to help us and our leaders did, republican and democrat alike, who put us on a course to win the battle against tyranny, dictatorship, and to win the battle for democracy and human rights and freedom for a lot of people. And no country on the face of this planet has expended as much blood, put as many people on the line, lost as much of our human treasure to offer other people an opportunity to embrace their future. Not tell them what it has to be. Its really a remarkable story. And now we find ourselves at a moment where we have to make some similar kinds of choices, frankly. I dont want to overblow it. Im not trying to. But this is a big moment of transport of transformation. There are literally hundreds of millions of people emerging on this planet young people count the number of countries where the population is 65 under the age of 30, 60 , 30 and under, 50 under the age of 21. I mean its all over the place. And if they live in a place where theres bad governance or corruption or tyranny in this world where Everybody Knows how to be in touch with everybody else all the time, you have a clash of aspirations. A clash of possibilities and opportunities. And to some degree, thats what were seeing today. That certainly was the beginning of the arab spring. Which is now being infused with a sectarianism, and confusions of religious overtones and other things that make it much more complicated than anything that has preceded this. By the way, the cold war was simple compared to this. Bipolar, pretty straight forward conversations. Yeah, we have to make big commitments, but it wasnt half as complicated in the context of dealing country to country, and with tribes with culture, with a lot of old history. And its a very different set of choices. In addition thats complicated by the fact that many other countries today are growing in their economic power. Growing in their own sense of independence. And not as willing to just take at face value what a larger g7 or g20 country tells them, or what some particular alliance dictates. So thats what were facing. And i heard the chairman say, you know we shouldnt compromise the daytoday operations of the department. But let me say to you the daytoday operations of the department are not confined to making an embassy secure. We need to do that. But if thats all we do folks were in trouble. Were not going to be able to protect ourselves adequately against these challenges that were facing that well talk about today. The United States, you know we get 1 of the entire budget of the United States of america. Everything we do abroad within the state department and usaid is within that 1 . Everything. Thank you the businesses we try to help, to marry to Economic Opportunities in the country, all the visas, the consulate work, the diplomacy, the coordination of dhs, fbi atf, i mean all the efforts that we have to engage in to work with other countries intelligence organizations, so forth, to help do the diplomacy around that is less than 1 . I guarantee you more than 50 of the history of this era is going to be written out of that 1 and the issues we confront in that 1 . And i ask you to think about that as you contemplate the budgets. Because weve been robbing peter to pay paul and weve been stripping away our ability to help a country deal with those kids who may be ripe for becoming part of isil. Weve been diminishing our capacity to be able to have the kind of impact we ought to be having in this more complicated world. Now, im not going to go in to all of the detail because i promised id summarize. But i believe the United States is leading extraordinarily on the basis of that 1 . We have led on isil, putting to the a coalition for the first time in history that has five arab nations engaged in military activity in another arab country in the region, against you know, sunni against sunni. I dont want to turn this into that sectarian but its an important part of what is happening. We have we help to lead in the effort to transition in iraq a government that we could work with. Par