'America Needs All The Friends It Can Get': Lidnsey Graham Pushes Increased 'Soft Power' Spending

last month

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke about appropriations for federal foreign aid.

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Transcript

00:00If not, the bill is agreed to and will be reported as amended and with that we

00:10will turn to the Senate Foreign Operations and Related Programs

00:15Subcommittee and I do really want to thank Senators Coon and Senator Graham

00:18and all of their staff for their work on this bill. At a moment that is really

00:23marked by conflict and urgent challenges across the globe, strong U.S.

00:27leadership could not be more important. That was why earlier this year I fought

00:32so hard alongside many here today on both sides of the aisle to make sure we

00:37finally passed a national security supplemental that supported our allies,

00:41strengthened our investments in the Indo-Pacific, and provided critical

00:45humanitarian aid to save lives caught in the middle of conflict. But these

00:49challenges and many others remain and this bill reflects the need to maintain

00:54a strong U.S. presence. It includes investments that will make sure we

00:59continue leading on the world stage and keeping our country safe with every tool

01:03at our disposal. That means diplomacy and countering aggressive moves by the

01:08Chinese government. It means investing in global health and helping our partners

01:12stop health threats in their tracks before they pose a threat to our nation.

01:17It means investing in long-term U.S. and partner economic security and our

01:22partners ability to defend their sovereignty. And it means support for

01:26humanitarian aid, disaster response, and international organizations that help

01:31prevent conflict and chaos. These are crucial investments now more than ever.

01:35So I really appreciate this committee's work on this. Senator Coons, I will turn

01:39it over to you. Thank you Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins for your

01:43leadership of this committee. I am so pleased to bring to us the State and

01:47Foreign Operations Bill for markup. It is for FY 25 a 61.6 billion dollar bill.

01:53And I want to begin by thanking my ranking member, Senator Graham, and his

01:58very capable staff, Paul Grove, Adam Uzerski, Catherine Bowles, for their

02:02partnership in producing this genuinely bipartisan bill. I also want to begin by

02:06thanking my clerk, Alex Carnes, and his talented team, Khaled Farahmand, Sarita

02:11Venka, and Drew Platt. We do genuinely work well together. I'd like to also

02:17acknowledge the General Publishing Office and Congressional Budget Office

02:20staff who play a critical role for all of us in getting our bills ready in time.

02:23Now a brief word about this bill. We received input from more than 80

02:27senators and hundreds of groups representing NGOs, faith organizations,

02:33diaspora communities, businesses, all of this country seems interested and

02:38concerned on how this committee advances U.S. foreign policy and values in this

02:43bill. Senator Graham and I and our staff work closely together to take all these

02:47views into account and to write a genuinely bipartisan bill. There is

02:51plenty we can and should agree on. We agree it's important we strengthen

02:55efforts to confront security threats from maligned state and non-state

02:59actors. We agree on the importance of maintaining a strong economy to withstand

03:03global shocks and unfair trade practices. We agree we need to employ a diplomatic

03:08and development workforce that enables our government and our businesses to

03:11compete. This bill advances these objectives and more. It increased funds

03:16for critical partners. It provides more support for Ukraine. It provides support

03:21in the Indo-Pacific, in fact 1.9 billion dollars for Indo-Pacific partners. It

03:26increased investments as was referenced before to counter the flow of fentanyl

03:30from 125 to 170 million. It enhances economic and digital security to blunt

03:36the spread of economic coercion by the PRC. That's 685 million. Given the

03:41lateness of the hour, let me summarize. This bill meets our

03:46commitments to international organizations and financial institutions.

03:49It ensures we're at the table when critical issues are debated. It

03:53strengthens our efforts to sustain and advance development by focusing on

03:57localization, evaluation, partnership. The outcome of any negotiation results in

04:02aspects that neither Senator Graham nor I would have drafted if we alone were

04:06in charge. That is the essence of bipartisanship. But this compromise, when

04:10enacted, will make the United States and our partners stronger, more secure, and

04:13more resilient. It's the first step in a long process. I look forward to working

04:17with members of this committee and with your leadership, Madam Chair, as we

04:21advance towards conference. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Graham. Thank you, Madam

04:27Chairman. I really enjoy working with Senator Coons and his staff. He's named

04:32them all. The absence of criticism is praise enough where I come from, so they

04:37all really do a good job. This bill has to be viewed in light of the times in

04:43which we live. Director Wray said, wherever he looks, there's blinking

04:50lights. Now, the last time we heard that was before 9-11. The Iran report that was

04:58a year late about their malign activities in their nuclear program is

05:02now available to the Senate. You need to read it. What they're up to is very

05:09dangerous. The facilities we have overseas are very much threatened by

05:15Iran initiatives in the region. Iran has contacted people to kill members of the

05:25Trump administration to get back for Soleimani. China is a threat, but Iran is

05:33on the prowl. To the State Department, you serve in some of the most dangerous

05:39places in the world. Some of you come from State Department families. Nobody

05:46here wants to send our soldiers into battle without the best equipment, the

05:50best intel, the best everything. Our State Department is in some of the

05:54most dangerous places where there really is no military to come over the

06:00hill. This 61 billion dollar appropriations is 1% of the budget. To

06:06the people who want to just get rid of state foreign ops, foreign aid, then you

06:11better buy more bullets, because if we don't stay engaged in the world, we're

06:17going to pay a heavy price. The border is broken, but that's not the only threat

06:22we face. There's 3.3 billion dollars in here to help our friends in Israel who

06:28are under siege everywhere. There's money to continue the fight against AIDS. How

06:34far we've come in the last 40 years. Do you really want to stop now?

06:39Malaria, TB, why do we invest in these things? Helping others is a good thing

06:44and it does pay benefits when the people that you're helping will have a more

06:49favorable view towards you as a nation. And quite frankly, America needs all the

06:54friends we can get. We have enough enemies. I want to stay involved in this

06:59account as long as I'm in the Senate. I'm a pretty hawkish guy, but this

07:04account protects America as much as any battalion on the battlefield. And the

07:11people working in this space are heroes. They're at risk. You need to read this

07:18report on a run. There's always ways to save money and there's always cheap

07:24shots to take in politics. This account is where the rubber meets the road. And

07:31if we don't protect our people in harm's way, when embassies attacked and people

07:36are killed, the response is what the hell happened? Well, I can tell you what

07:40happened. If you continue to deplete this account, there's going to be more

07:44likely an attack, not less. To my friends in the house, you've got this

07:49account by $10 billion.

07:53Really? And most of you who cut this account are pretty hawkish on the

07:58military side. It makes no sense. So I want to keep working with Senator Coons

08:05and everybody on this committee to tell her constituents this 1% of the federal

08:11budget is used to protect those who are in harm's way, representing our

08:15interest in faraway places. It's used to help people save lives. If you're pro

08:21life, this is really a good count. There have been a lot of people, a lot of

08:26mother to child age submission is transmission is way down because of what

08:31we've done in the PEPFAR space. And we extend PEPFAR for a year in this bill.

08:37So count me in for having a strong military. Count me in for having strong

08:42soft power.

08:47Senator Coons, you have a manager's package. Madam Chair, I have a manager's package. I

08:51would like to offer an amendment. This manager's package has been distributed

08:54to every senator and the provisions I understand have been cleared on both

08:58sides. This package of amendments improves the bill and I ask the

09:02committee adopt this package by voice vote. Are there any objections? Without

09:06objections, the manager's package is agreed to. For the information of all

09:11senators here is how I'm going to proceed. Um, we're going to do three

09:16amendments. Uh, the first

'America Needs All The Friends It Can Get': Lidnsey Graham Pushes Increased 'Soft Power' Spending

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