Dem Lawmaker Rails Against Isolationism, Warns US Cannot 'Retreat Behind Our Borders'

6 months ago

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) spoke about US leadership in geopolitics.

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00:00I think that could be bipartisan, but you know, let me just just say this, you know, I just

00:07and as that believe that we cannot address our shared challenges if we just retreat behind our

00:15borders and, you know, we want to talk about out-competing China. We can't out-compete China

00:20or Russia and or curb their influence throughout the hemisphere if we drastically cut U.S.

00:27diplomatic and development budgets. You know, there's a way why diplomacy is important what

00:35we need to do in our investments and that will also help with immigration, you know,

00:40illegal immigration coming across because people are leaving certain places looking for a better

00:45life because of what's taking place there and that the United States have to play a role in

00:51that and we can't build the trust that we need to build and sustain partnerships with our partners

00:58and regions if the engagement is seen solely as guided by interest and competition with the PRC

01:08because it says that we don't really care about them, we're just caring about stopping the PRC

01:15and I have been engaged in the western hemisphere for most of my congressional career

01:21and when I look at what's taking place down there, particularly when you look at places like

01:27Colombia and Brazil and Peru and I look at some of the things that are taking place there

01:32in Central America, the Caribbean, there's issues of whether or not what I do see and those

01:39things with those governments with the exception recently of Venezuela primarily but many of these

01:46other countries are democratically elected presidents that the people's voices are crying

01:53out for help in certain areas and are looking toward the United States to see where we are

02:02and I know that the president has certain policy priorities that he is putting forward

02:10so that we can try to address some of those issues in various parts so

02:16my first question would be then

02:20what is give us the strategic importance and what are the Biden administration's top policy

02:28priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean that addresses some of the concerns that I've

02:34just articulated and some of the concerns that we see in some of the countries that

02:40are our neighbors and our partners in Central America and South America and in the Caribbean?

02:50Maybe I'll kick it off Ranking Member Meeks and thank you for your decades of

02:55leadership on these issues. We are working as hard as we can to promote a more secure

03:01democratic and prosperous region. That means delivering support for our allies when they need

03:08it. I'll give you the example of Ecuador where President Nobuo has faced tremendous economic

03:15transnational crime and security challenges. We have brought to bear a full array of solutions

03:22there. My learned colleagues have traveled to Ecuador to support them on security and development

03:29issues. We're working through international financial institutions to provide relief to

03:36the crushing debt load that that country faces and we seek to help them become more capable

03:45in dealing with the challenges they face. We need to see greater investment from U.S.

03:52and like-minded nation private sector players in the region even though we are the leading

03:58trading partner for two-thirds of the countries in our region. IDB invest can be an important

04:04leverage in that effort. I would also note doing things to help countries join the

04:13supply chain for electric vehicles and using critical minerals which are abundant in our

04:21region and making sure that U.S. companies have access to those and work with partners so that

04:28everyone benefits along the supply chain. XM is a crucial partner for us in that regard.

04:36I think I mentioned already DFC. Those are all key tools that we have and we need to be present.

04:43We need our diplomats on the field. We need ambassadors in every embassy. We need commercial

04:48officers. We need foreign agricultural service officers out there competing every single day

04:54because our competitors have their people on the field working to compete. Let me ask this real

05:00quick because there's two areas I want to deal with. I help and I want to know how has the

05:05Bureau of Western Hemisphere empowered the office of the special representative for one of the

05:12things that I've worked hard to get down with the racial equity and justice to advance the U.S.

05:17Brazilian joint action plan to eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination as well as we worked

05:24together to promote the U.S. Colombian action plan for racial and ethnic equality capri who and to

05:32address closing civic space for marginalized communities because a lot of these countries

05:37these communities are marginalized also across the hemisphere including Nicaragua and Venezuela

05:43and Honduras and Peru. So tell me how is that you know the office the Bureau is doing to advance

05:52that and working that and can you do it without any money? Well it's a tremendous priority for me

06:00working with Desiree Cormier-Smith and SREG has been incredibly important. We have

06:08traveled together to Brazil to hold the meetings for on our JPR our joint action plan to eliminate

06:17racial discrimination there we have a comprehensive interagency approach on those issues in Brazil

06:24and we look forward to receiving our Brazilian counterparts later this year to build on the

06:29conversations that we had both in Brazil and here in Washington earlier this spring.

06:35Last thing I know we got votes coming up but this is Mr. McCall and I are working closely

06:39together I know he's going to have another meeting later this week because I'm very concerned about

06:44what's taking place in Haiti and what that deal is and the money that is there. We're working

06:51very closely together he has agreed that we're going to but tell us where are we you know with

06:57reference to this this new piece where that we can get this thing done and how important is the

07:02getting that money that's needed for the security there? It's vital sir the we're making progress

07:09on the political side in Haiti we now have a new prime minister in Haiti a new cabinet has just been

07:16gazetted it's a group of technocratic experts Kenyan delegation has visited they're ready to go

07:23they need us to make sure that we have the things that they need in place the funding that we seek

07:30will allow us to provide crucial things like vehicles, fuel, ammunition, radios, other communication

07:38devices. This will be an important partnership with not just Kenya but a number of countries

07:47Jamaica, Bahamas, others from around the region that will support this effort. The Haitian National

07:55Police needs our help to be able to deal with the gang challenges every day Haitians and others

08:02are at tremendous risk we saw the tragic murders of two American missionaries last month

08:08and we can't let more people die while we wait to deploy. And thank you for that I appreciate

Dem Lawmaker Rails Against Isolationism, Warns US Cannot 'Retreat Behind Our Borders'

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