[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
  STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 
                            FISCAL YEAR 2022

                              ----------  
                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Christopher A. Coons (Chairman) 
presiding.
    Present: Senators Coons, Graham, Leahy, Durbin, Moran, 
Murphy, Van Hollen, and Hagerty.

           UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


           opening statement of senator christopher a. coons


    Senator Coons. I call this hearing to order.
    Good afternoon. This is the first hearing of the 
subcommittee this year and my first as Chairman. I'm very 
pleased to have as my Republican counterpart Senator Lindsey 
Graham of South Carolina, who's been a strong supporter of this 
subcommittee and of the State and Foreign Operations budget.
    I also want to express my deep appreciation to Senator 
Leahy, Chairman of the Full Appropriations Committee, for his 
30 years of service as either Chair or Ranking Member of this 
subcommittee. His wide-ranging impact on the Department of 
State and on foreign operations will be felt for many years to 
come and I look forward to continuing to advance his 
priorities.
    I also want to express my gratitude to Tim Rieser and to 
Paul Grove, whose work on this subcommittee collectively 
exceeds 50 years. I look forward to working closely with both 
of them, learning from their wisdom, and the rest of our 
capable subcommittee staff.
    Since I first joined this subcommittee in 2013, 8 years 
ago, I, along with other Members of this panel, have seen many 
USAID staff at headquarters and out in the field. We've seen 
firsthand their great work. We've seen under extraordinarily 
difficult conditions the difference that they're making in the 
world.
    A big part of our job is to help them continue to be 
effective and supported as much as we can in the more 100 
countries around the world where USAID has programs.
    So welcome, Administrator Power. You've already had an 
extraordinary career as a journalist, a writer, the winner of 
the Pulitzer Prize, as our Ambassador to the United Nations, 
and now apparently in search of new and even more vexing 
challenges, you've stepped forward to serve as head of USAID.
    I firmly believe you are the right person for this job at 
the right time, and I know many others here share that view.
    While your previous role was as a diplomat and an advocate 
for America's values and priorities at the United Nations, we 
know that diplomacy and development are inter-dependent and 
deeply complementary.
    USAID will greatly benefit from your policy expertise, your 
diplomatic experience, your vision, your tenacity, your 
ferocity, and your ability to work with others to solve complex 
problems that are literally a matter of life and death for 
millions of people.
    We're a bit constrained today by the fact that the 
administration's fiscal year 2022 budget request will not be 
officially released until later this week, on Friday. So, we 
have relatively few details about the specific amounts the 
administration is requesting for USAID operations and programs, 
but with only 4 months remaining before the beginning of the 
fiscal year, it's important we begin to discuss the challenges 
ahead and the top lines.
    We do know that the top line for State and Foreign 
Operations is $6.8 billion above the fiscal year 2021 enacted 
level and that represents a significant and, frankly, welcome 
realignment from similar hearings of the last few years where 
there were proposals for arbitrary and deep cuts that would 
have taken a cleaver to this budget. I am grateful for those 
who have worked together to prevent those deep cuts and the 
lasting impact hey would have had.
    Today, because of President Biden's clear understanding of 
the importance of USAID to our national security and our global 
leadership, we can discuss how we can work together to reaffirm 
the agency's role as the world's premier development agency.
    Over its 60-year history, USAID's had an extraordinary 
global impact, saving countless lives and helping lift millions 
out of poverty. We could spend our entire time today reviewing 
USAID's accomplishments.
    But we have to work together to make improvements on the 
way the agency functions. For reasons partly due to USAID's own 
procedures, partly the results of actions by Congress, partly 
due to government-wide regulations, USAID's become very 
bureaucratic and, at times, in my view, too hard to access for 
potential local partners.
    When applying for funding, potential partners find that it 
can take a year from submitting a proposal to getting a grant 
or contract. We need to do more to empower local governments 
and organizations so they can access our support.
    Our world is increasingly complex, interconnected, and 
dangerous. The challenges we face globally are daunting, and 
USAID's being asked to respond to every conceivable problem.
    The reality is even if Congress gave you every dollar 
you're requesting, it will not be enough to meet this moment. 
So, until every country has the vaccines they need, which we 
will address further, Americans and people everywhere are 
vulnerable to COVID-19 and its variants.
    Until billions of people have access to sufficient food and 
water and basic medical care, until climate change has been 
tackled and addressed, until the global struggle between the 
ideals of democracy and malign forces of authoritarianism are 
resolved, we will not make the progress we all hope for.
    Administrator Power, I will conclude by saying we need your 
ideas, as someone who has butted heads with the Chinese at the 
United Nations, for how we can apply USAID's programs to make 
the best use of our comparative advantages in countries where 
we are sharply joined and their presence is growing.
    And last, I am concerned, as are many, about the way our 
climate is warming and the consequences if we don't do more. 
There's $2.5 billion in the budget request for climate change 
programs, a portion of which will be administered by USAID, 
which I view as a good start.
    Let me now turn to Senator Graham for his opening remarks. 
Then we will hear from Administrator Power, and then Members 
will get 7-minute rounds for questions.
    Thank you.


              opening statement of senator lindsey graham


    Senator Graham. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    The subcommittee is in good hands with you. We've worked 
together well. Senator Leahy was a joy to work with when he was 
the Chairman, Ranking Member. We changed roles several times, 
but Paul and Tim have always found a way to get to yes, and one 
of the most enjoyable parts of being in the Senate for me is 
this subcommittee.
    We have great Members on both sides that see the world 
pretty much the same: that America needs to lead from the 
front, and developmental aid is a tool in the toolbox to make 
the world a safer place, and I think a lot of military 
personnel would agree with that.
    The U.S. International Developmental Finance Corporation 
(DFC) has been a major success getting more bang for the 
taxpayer buck and getting better outcomes for people we're 
trying to help, including within the fragile state context.
    I've really enjoyed working with you, Mr. Chairman, and I 
know Paul and Tim will be there for the subcommittee.
    As to this hearing about USAID, we don't say enough about 
our people who work at the State Department and USAID. They 
work in very dangerous locations, taking risks for our country 
every day to change people's lives for the better, and every 
time somebody from USAID interacts with a person in a far-away 
place, it makes America safer because, generally speaking, it's 
good branding for our country.
    So, I hope we can find a way to plus up the fiscal year 
2022 budget request. With more money comes accountability and 
transparency and I look forward to working with you to make 
this subcommittee even stronger and better.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Graham.
    Administrator Power.
STATEMENT OF HON. SAMANTHA POWER, ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED 
            STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Chairman Coons, Ranking Member 
Graham, and Members of the subcommittee. Special thanks also to 
Tim Rieser and Paul Grove, who are legends for the work that 
they do along with their staffs to pull this budget together 
every year.
    Let me start there and just express deep, deep gratitude as 
a citizen who's been on the sidelines the last 4 years for the 
continued bipartisan support for the work we do at USAID. It's 
reflected in both of your opening statements. It's reflected in 
the budgets that were secured over these last years, and I just 
could not be more grateful.
    It's also critically important, as you've indicated, for 
the world. I think both of you and this subcommittee have long 
recognized that diplomacy, defense, and development are vital 
components of our foreign policy.
    President Biden does, as well, which is reflected in the 
discretionary budget request and in his decision to elevate 
USAID, the USAID Administrator to become a standing member of 
the National Security Council.
    Our investments in development and humanitarian assistance 
have grown even more necessary in light of today's challenges. 
A persistent pandemic has left 3.5 million people dead at least 
and swelled the ranks of the extreme poor for the first time 
since the late 1990s. It has also exposed the pervasive 
inequities that continue to fray societies across the globe.
    Authoritarian regimes, like China and Russia, are acting 
more aggressively each year, exploiting not only the COVID-19 
emergency but vulnerabilities in our democracies.
    A rapidly-changing climate is sending fiercer storms our 
way and inflicting droughts, deep freezes, and wildfires upon 
communities. Mass displacement is at its highest since World 
War II.
    Every day, in fact, and, Senator Coons, I'm assuming you 
have this experience, as well, but when you read the news, it 
seems as though a new horrific crisis has emerged, such as that 
in Ethiopia's Tigray Region where Ethiopians are facing the 
worst food insecurity the country has seen since the 1983-84 
famine which killed over one million people.
    And, of course, against this backdrop, China is 
increasingly using its financial power as leverage to advance 
its interests.
    These are obviously not positive developments, but as an 
American, I am very glad that USAID, the world's premier 
development agency, is uniquely positioned to confront the 
world's toughest problems and to catalyze our partners to do 
the same.
    The steps we take to combat COVID-19, climate change, 
conflict, and other ills abroad make us safer while 
demonstrating compassion for and cooperation with people all 
over the world.
    When we fight COVID abroad, we reduce the risk of variants 
that can lead to outbreaks at home. When incomes rise in the 
developing world, these countries become more self-reliant and 
less dependent on U.S. or other donor support. When the U.S. 
delivers aid to those affected by natural disasters and 
humanitarian crises, we demonstrate the best of American values 
and build goodwill that inspires action and cooperation from 
our friends.
    Our investments help support civil society under stress, 
address the derivers of violent extremism, and the root causes 
of conflict and migration. Our investments meet the needs of 
the most vulnerable and marginalized people, build resilience 
to extreme weather, combat the spread of infectious disease, 
and contribute to a much-needed global economic recovery.
    We, of course, know, Senator Coons, as you indicated, that 
the enormous level of global need far outstrips any one 
country's ability to meet it. The Biden-Harris discretionary 
request for fiscal year 2022 will allow the U.S. to lead on the 
global stage and to leverage our activities to inspire our 
allies and private sector partners to contribute more.
    We also need to make ourselves a more capable and nimble 
agency. We are trying to adapt our systems, processes, and 
procedures to that end, including by ensuring we are well 
positioned to expand our engagement with the private sector, 
and we are building institutional capacity commensurate with 
USAID's role as a national security agency.
    We're intently focused on our workforce. During the 
pandemic, many of our staff at home and abroad have been 
working to provide life-saving aid around the world even while 
their loved ones battle COVID-19.
    Moving forward, we are seeking not a return to the previous 
status quo but to better support our staff and harness their 
capabilities. Underpinning all of our efforts will be a strong 
focus on creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive 
USAID.
    With your support, USAID will move aggressively to tackle 
the world's toughest problems in order to build a more stable 
and prosperous future for us all.
    I look forward to our continued partnership in ensuring 
that American taxpayer dollars are spent effectively.
    Thank you and I look forward to answering your questions.

    [The statement follows:]
               Prepared Statement of Hon. Samantha Power
                              introduction
    Thank you Chairman Coons, Ranking Member Graham, Chairman Leahy and 
distinguished Members of the subcommittee. I am grateful for the 
opportunity to discuss the fiscal year 2022 President's discretionary 
request for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
    The global challenges we face today cast a large shadow over our 
lives. A persistent pandemic has left nearly 3.5 million dead, swelled 
the ranks of the extreme poor for the first time since the late 1990s, 
and exposed the pervasive inequities that continue to fray societies 
across the globe. Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia are 
acting more aggressively each year, exploiting not only the COVID-19 
emergency, but vulnerabilities in our democracies. A rapidly changing 
climate is sending fiercer storms our way and inflicting droughts, deep 
freezes, and wildfires upon communities. Mass displacement is at its 
highest since World War II. And every day, it seems as though new 
horrific crises emerge, such as that in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where 
Ethiopians are facing both conflict and the worst food insecurity the 
country has seen since the 1983-4 famine killed over 1 million people. 
While these troubles trend and crises erupt in faraway places, we 
cannot ignore that they can impact our lives here.
    These are not positive developments, but as an American, I am very 
glad that USAID is uniquely positioned to confront them all, and I am 
immensely grateful to you for sustaining support for the Agency's vital 
programming. Your continued bipartisan support for USAID saves and 
improves millions of lives each day, while enhancing U.S. national and 
economic security. Our investments help support civil society under 
stress, shore up democratic institutions, address the drivers of 
violent extremism and the root causes of conflict and migration, meet 
the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations, build 
resilience to extreme weather patterns caused by a rapidly changing 
climate, and combat the spread of infectious diseases. When we fight 
COVID-19 abroad, we stem the rise of variants that can possibly lead to 
outbreaks at home. When incomes rise in the developing world, those 
countries become more self-reliant and less dependent on U.S. or other 
donor support. When the U.S. delivers aid to those affected by natural 
disasters and humanitarian crises, we demonstrate the best of American 
values and build the type of goodwill that inspires action and 
cooperation from our allies.
    The Biden-Harris administration's fiscal year 2022 budget request 
for foreign assistance funding fully or partially implemented by USAID 
is a reflection of the critical importance of development and 
humanitarian assistance in advancing U.S. interests around the world. 
However, the staggering level of global need, particularly amid the 
worst pandemic in a century, far outstrips any one country's ability to 
meet it. The discretionary request will allow the United States to lead 
on the global stage, and to leverage our activities to inspire our 
allies and private sector partners to contribute more to end the 
pandemic and mitigate its effects, to meet urgent humanitarian needs, 
and to support programs that will strengthen economies, educate and 
feed those in need, and promote dignity and security around the world.
    In order for us to get the most out of our programs, we know we 
must make ourselves a more capable and nimble Agency at a time of 
heightened need. The President's fiscal year 2022 discretionary request 
strengthens the Agency's ability to respond to short-term shocks, while 
allowing us to deepen investments that will help us secure a more 
stable and prosperous future.
                  usaid as a national security agency
    USAID's mission is to make the world safer, healthier, more 
democratic, and more prosperous. The Agency was created as a tool in 
America's arsenal to combat malign actors who sought to prey on 
people's fears and desperation following the devastating impacts of 
World War II. We are facing similar threats today, be they from 
autocratic nations attempting to subvert liberal and democratic norms, 
pandemics that upend the global economy, displacement of tens of 
millions of people due to natural and manmade disasters, or existential 
threats to our environment that jeopardize our future on Earth. USAID 
has a central role to play in tackling each of these challenges.
    Development has often taken a backseat to defense and diplomacy as 
a means of advancing U.S. national security objectives. But President 
Biden made clear that development, defense, and diplomacy are all vital 
components of our foreign policy, as reflected by his decision to 
elevate the USAID Administrator as a standing member of the National 
Security Council. I take that responsibility seriously and vow to be a 
fierce advocate for development and humanitarian goals at the National 
Security Council.
    As the world's premier global development agency, USAID is uniquely 
placed to address the world's toughest problems, catalyze our partners, 
and strengthen our global standing at a time when China increasingly 
uses its financial power as leverage to advance its interests.
        ending covid and strengthening global health leadership
    In order to keep Americans safe, mitigate the risk of new variants, 
and rebuild our economy, we must fight the pandemic everywhere it 
exists. Our global health leadership is evident in USAID's response to 
emergency requests for support in partner countries. In my first days 
as Administrator, I have witnessed the resolve our teams have shown in 
India and Nepal to deliver live-saving personal protective equipment, 
oxygen, and medicines to communities throughout the region as they 
battle a ferocious second wave of the virus. With your support, we will 
continue to meet people around the world in their hour of dire need. 
Millions of lives hang in the balance, and they count on USAID support 
to help keep them alive.
    The U.S. will also lead in ensuring that the world gets vaccinated. 
President Biden's recent commitment to provide 80 million doses 
overseas by the end of June 2021 represents five times more than any 
other country has shared to date. As part of this work, USAID has re-
engaged with our multilateral partners including the World Health 
Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. As USAID teams help 
strengthen cold chains and health systems, we are coordinating our 
vaccine supply efforts with the COVAX initiative to provide doses to 
countries, and working as a government to increase the overall vaccine 
supply.
    Even as we move quickly to support vaccine uptake and provide 
additional crucial support to countries battling the pandemic, USAID 
leads the charge on preventing child and maternal deaths, controlling 
the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and combating infectious diseases like malaria 
and tuberculosis, while building resilient health systems and advancing 
global health security to prevent the next pandemic. While COVID-19 has 
had a devastating impact on many global health outcomes, the 
tuberculosis (TB) response has been particularly hard hit. As a result 
of the pandemic, an additional 6.3 million people are projected to be 
stricken with TB, and an additional 1.4 million people are expected to 
die from the disease between 2020 and 2025. Nutrition gains have also 
been set back, with an estimated 2.5 million additional children 
expected to experience stunting by next year. In addition, over 6 
million women experienced disruptions to family planning services. And 
164 million treatments for neglected tropical diseases--three quarters 
of the normal total--went unprovided in 2020. Postponed immunization 
campaigns are putting around 228 million people, mostly children, at 
risk for diseases such as measles, yellow fever and polio. Because 
services have been redirected, in many countries around the world, 
people are dying at higher rates of these preventable illnesses than 
they are of COVID-19 itself.
    The fiscal year 2022 discretionary request will expand the number 
of countries USAID works in to strengthen global health security, and 
work to retain the hard-fought gains made over the last 60 years. Last 
year, as we supported our partners who were trying to stem the spread 
of the COVID-19 virus, we nonetheless managed to achieve historic 
successes in global health, including certifying the Africa region as 
wild polio-free, providing 80 million people with mosquito nets, and 
launching innovative programs designed to deliver quality, evidence-
based voluntary family planning and reproductive healthcare as well as 
maternal, newborn, and child health services in USAID partner 
countries. For every dollar invested by USAID, we have worked with 
partners to secure $26 in donated medicines for neglected tropical 
diseases, yielding a total of $26 billion for mass treatment campaigns 
to date.
                        combating climate change
    We must move far more aggressively to address the global, 
existential threat posed by climate change, including assisting 
communities to anticipate, respond and recover from increasingly 
intense shocks. President Biden has called the climate crisis ``the 
number one issue facing humanity.'' Climate change is a national 
security threat--leading to conflict, hunger, displacement, droughts 
and other severe weather disasters. It also risks undermining decades 
of progress in global health and economic growth, exacerbating global 
inequities, and increasing the need for humanitarian aid. These threats 
do not recognize national borders. Just as we have witnessed storms 
that increase in frequency and intensity in Asia each year, we have 
seen wildfires in California eight times larger than they were 50 years 
ago. The same extreme weather patterns that lead to recurrent droughts 
in sub-Saharan Africa that displace people from their homes also caused 
the anomalous deep freezes in Texas in February 2021 that cut power for 
millions and left over 20 people dead.
    Since 2000, climate-related disasters have affected almost 4 
billion people globally, costing an estimated $2.2 trillion. Without 
urgent action, climate change could push an additional 100 million 
people into extreme poverty by 2030. That's why President Biden 
rejoined the Paris Agreement on the first day of his Presidency and 
committed to tripling the U.S. Government's funding for climate 
adaptation by 2024. The U.S. is leading by example, announcing a bold 
commitment to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent 
from 2005 levels by the end of this decade. However, approximately 85 
percent of global carbon emissions come from outside the United States, 
with about two-thirds of these emissions coming from developing 
countries. As announced during the Climate Leaders' Summit, USAID plans 
to mobilize $3.5 billion in private investment for climate, working in 
collaboration with the U.S. International Development Finance 
Corporation (DFC) and partner governments to use innovative solutions 
to procure and fund green energy projects. We are also working with the 
InterAmerican Development Bank, the DFC, several pension funds, and 
venture capital firms on Natural Climate Solutions to conserve, 
restore, and reforest 20 million hectares by 2025. Overall, USAID plans 
to double private investment in adaptation in 20 of the most vulnerable 
countries and accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions in at 
least 20 partner countries.
    USAID works with and in countries that are most at risk of climate 
harms, as well as integral partners who have committed to cutting 
emissions and strengthening climate adaptation and resilience. Our 
programs support countries as they seek to anticipate and manage 
disaster risks, rapidly reduce their emissions, and increase carbon 
storage, all while helping them secure a clean energy future, develop 
their economies sustainably, and protect their forests, coastlines, and 
watersheds. USAID is also in the process of developing a new Agency-
wide Climate Strategy to ramp up climate change mitigation and 
adaptation efforts, and further integrate climate change considerations 
into our assistance programs across all sectors. Ensuring that women 
and girls can meaningfully lead on addressing climate change is key to 
this work. Research shows that climate change adaptation, mitigation, 
and resilience building is more effective when women are involved. As 
the burden of climate events falls disproportionately on the backs of 
low-income, Indigenous, and marginalized communities, we will also seek 
to target our assistance to strengthen the resilience of these 
populations.
          bolstering democracy and countering authoritarianism
    As is well known, across the world, the cause of democracy is 
currently on its back heel. Amid the 15-year democratic decline 
globally documented by Freedom House, nine more countries slipped into 
a state of autocracy in the last 5 years alone, representing more than 
300 million people. Authoritarians are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a 
further excuse to curb individual freedoms and tighten their grip on 
power. The pandemic has also tested the ability of fragile democracies 
that are trying to respond and maintain public confidence in their 
institutions. The People's Republic of China increasingly supplies 
technological surveillance tools to other nations, and uses its 
financial leverage to sway their actions. As countries grow more 
repressive, they become more inclined in turn to support China's 
initiatives on the global stage, including those to weaken human rights 
norms, in ways that are detrimental to U.S. interests.
    Yet for all of this, other trends and events should motivate us to 
step up to do more to meet this challenge. Mass pro-democracy 
demonstrations reached an all-time high of 37 in 2019, higher than 
during the Arab Spring or the end of the Cold War. And as the 2018 
women-led revolution in Sudan shows, no matter how tight a dictator's 
grip on power may seem in a given moment, the will of the people can 
suddenly assert itself--and prevail. Although the country's democratic 
transition remains tenuous, Sudan's Civilian-Led Transitional 
Government is ushering in reforms in order to try to take the country 
down the path to democracy.
    The fiscal year 2022 discretionary request provides an increase in 
overseas funding for democracy programming to meet this moment. First, 
we need to bolster our ``Rapid Response'' capacity to quickly seize on 
opportunities to bolster democracy throughout the world when there is a 
political opening of the sort that occurred in Sudan, or an attempt to 
roll back democratic progress as in Myanmar. Second, corruption is the 
Achilles' heel of many illiberal regimes, and USAID will use our 
programmatic assistance and our voice to support reformers and civil 
society actors fighting corruption and promoting accountability. Third, 
we will help countries fight misinformation and disinformation, 
increasingly used by malign actors to stoke public anger against 
democratically-elected officials and civil society. Fourth, we will 
work to support activists and citizens subjected to digital repression 
by regimes that are becoming increasingly sophisticated at surveilling 
and censoring their populations. By the same token, we will continue to 
provide support for governments to align regulatory frameworks for 
emerging technologies with democratic values. In the service of these 
goals, we will work to support independent and public interest media, 
helping journalists and whistleblowers withstand government repression, 
legal harassment, disinformation, and attacks on media outlets' 
financial viability. Finally, we are building the resilience of 
democratic institutions by supporting the separation of powers, 
including independent judiciaries and electoral institutions and 
stronger legislatures.
    President Biden pledged to host an international Summit for 
Democracy so that democratic governments can align on efforts to 
confront authoritarianism, fight corruption, and promote respect for 
human rights. This Summit is an opportunity to elevate support for 
democracy as a cornerstone of our foreign policy, in concert with our 
allies and partners.
          addressing irregular migration from central america
    For far too long, Central Americans have been entrenched in cycles 
of poverty, violence, and corruption. El Salvador, Guatemala and 
Honduras are home to some of the world's most dangerous cities, riven 
by criminal gangs, extortion, and gender-based violence, all of which 
persist and flourish due to lack of rule of law and pervasive 
corruption throughout national and municipal authorities. Weak 
governance and corruption undermine social and economic progress, and 
troubling recent developments, such as the Salvadoran legislature's 
dismissal of the Attorney General and the magistrates of the 
Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, illustrate democratic 
institutions are under pressure. The grim circumstances these countries 
face have been compounded by the increased frequency of extreme weather 
events, particularly in regions reliant on subsistence farming. Last 
year, the powerful, back-to-back storms of Hurricanes Eta and Iota 
brought heavy rains and severe flooding, affecting millions of people. 
The COVID-19 pandemic has also had far-reaching impacts, not only on 
health, but in undermining food systems, food security, and economic 
prosperity in the region and COVID-related lockdowns have yielded 
increasing rates of domestic and other gender-based violence. These 
compounding factors are contributing to the increases in Central 
Americans who are abandoning their homes to embark on the dangerous 
journey toward the U.S. southern border in a desperate search for a 
better life. Without reliable harvests, sustainable sources of income, 
and guarantees of physical safety, many see migration as their only 
option to survive and provide a future for their children. Those who 
attempt the journey and are returned are met with insufficient support 
to reintegrate in their communities.
    The President's fiscal year 2022 discretionary request supports 
opportunities for families in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to 
feed their children and build stable and secure lives at home so they 
do not feel compelled to migrate irregularly to the United States. This 
approach includes a greater emphasis on building economic resilience, 
an emphasis on data-based evaluation to identify and address conditions 
in emigration hot spots, and a recognition that improved local 
governance is needed to unlock improvements in living conditions and 
economic opportunity. At the direction of President Biden, USAID is 
aggressively ramping up programs in all three countries. USAID's 
programs can improve incentives for individuals to stay in their local 
communities and build better lives for their families. Through whole-
of-government initiatives like Feed the Future, we are addressing the 
root causes of poverty and hunger. Increased agricultural higher 
incomes and improved greater resilience for smallholder farmers, for 
example, improves food systems and expands economic opportunity.
    Like you, though, we recognize that ultimately political will from 
the region's leaders will be the best predictor of whether economic and 
security conditions in the region improve. In the wake of challenges to 
democratic institutions in the region, we are speaking out in defense 
of the rule of law. We are deepening our support for local actors 
fighting corruption as well as those holding governments accountable 
both for their performance and for their trampling on democratic norms. 
USAID is working with civil society, U.S. and local private sector 
partners, faith-based groups, and reform-minded officials in local 
governments to multiply our impact in addressing the interrelated 
economic, governance, and security conditions that contribute to an 
individuals' decision to migrate.
                   bolstering humanitarian assistance
    Even as the world races to address the COVID-19 pandemic, we must 
still grapple with other emergent and protracted crises. Political 
conflicts are becoming more intense, hunger is on the rise, severe and 
frequent weather events and natural disasters are exacerbating chronic 
vulnerabilities, all of which are taking a heavy toll on civilians and 
leading to situations of protracted displacement. As of April 2021, the 
World Food Program estimates that 296 million people in the 35 
countries where it works are without sufficient food--111 million more 
people than in April 2020. And more than 34 million people are 
currently on the very edge of famine and risk starvation, up from 27 
million people in 2019. The United States is the world's largest donor 
for global humanitarian assistance, and we will continue to leverage 
our contributions to get other countries to step up to do more. For 
example, we are working with Gulf donor nations to strengthen the 
ability of communities in Bangladesh to withstand the impact of 
cyclones, and we continue to raise alarm bells over the lack of funding 
to address food insecurity in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan, and 
Yemen.
    In the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the scale of humanitarian need is 
staggering. After more than 6 months of hostilities between multiple 
armed actors, approximately 5.2 million people are in need of food 
assistance, out of a total population of around 6 million. As soon as 
the conflict in Tigray started, USAID immediately began providing life-
saving aid. We used our existing programs, including rapid response 
mechanisms, to provide food and health commodities, while also adapting 
to access constraints by pre-positioning aid.
    Our Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, which deployed in 
March, has been focused on rapidly scaling up our life-saving efforts 
to reach even more people, but it will not be enough if the current 
trajectory continues. I want to be crystal clear--we expect widespread 
famine in Ethiopia later this year. This is a man-made catastrophe and 
it needs to end. Eritrean Defense Forces need to leave Tigray, and the 
Government of Ethiopia needs to immediately allow for unhindered 
humanitarian access and the protection of civilians in Tigray. 
Senators, I ask for your support to use your voice in the days and 
weeks to come as we find ways to support the people of Tigray, hold 
accountable those who have harmed civilians, and press for an end to 
the violence and suffering.
    Around the world, USAID's dedicated teams and partners continue to 
respond to other grim man-made crises with untold levels of suffering. 
In Yemen, by most metrics the world's largest humanitarian emergency 
after more than 6 years of war, two of every three people, or 20.7 
million people, need humanitarian assistance this year. The UN projects 
that nearly one in two Yemeni children under 5 years of age will be 
acutely malnourished this year. Our brave relief agency partners 
surmount numerous obstacles every day to deliver lifesaving assistance 
to millions of people, but in many places, they cannot access 
populations in need due to cynical intransigence from those who control 
the territory, and they do not have enough money--despite generous 
contributions from the United States and other donors, the UN appeal 
for Yemen is only a third filled this year. Of course, we at USAID 
continue to do all we can to support U.S. Special Envoy Lenderking in 
his efforts to bring about the political solution that alone will end 
the war.
    In addition to Tigray and Yemen, our DARTs are also responding in 
places like Syria, where we are seeing heightened humanitarian needs 
due to the ongoing conflict, economic crisis, and COVID-19 outbreak 
there. Our humanitarian experts also remain on standby to respond to 
unexpected natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, 
floods, and even volcano eruptions like those we have seen recently in 
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
    This has been a year like no other that came before, but we expect 
continued, deepening need well into the upcoming year. The fiscal year 
2022 discretionary request enables USAID to continue its humanitarian 
leadership. We will not just respond to crises, but invest in 
resilience and risk reduction efforts that reduce the economic and 
human cost of disasters. Studies show that every dollar spent on 
adaptation and resilience can save as much as $3 in humanitarian aid. 
Over the past decade, we made substantial investments in early warning 
systems and emergency response in Central America. This meant that when 
storms Iota and Eta ripped through the region in November of 2020, the 
number of people killed was in the low hundreds; in 1998, a storm of 
similar size and trajectory killed 10,000 people. Helping others 
affected by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies reflects our 
values as Americans, demonstrates our global leadership, and makes the 
world a safer place.
                       expanding economic growth
    The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened development challenges, exposed 
inequities, and erased years of progress on poverty reduction through 
its impact on the global economy. Global gross domestic product shrank 
by 4.4 percent, the worst decline since the Great Depression, according 
to the International Monetary Fund. Some of the world's largest 
economies, including the U.S., have had to shut down to focus on 
stemming the spread of the virus. Despite the bleak economic outlook, 
there are opportunities to recover and accelerate reforms so that the 
U.S. can revive relationships with our trading partners.
    USAID assistance will support economic recovery with a laser focus 
on job creation, strengthening small and medium businesses, and 
reducing the time and cost to import and export goods. At the beginning 
of this year, USAID launched its new Economic Growth Policy, which 
confirmed and elevated the need for inclusive, sustainable, and 
resilient growth as central to sustainable development and poverty 
reduction. This is needed now more than ever to address the devastating 
and ongoing secondary impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy. In 
particular, the new policy strengthens our focus on engaging with the 
private sector and improving the conditions for foreign investment in 
emerging markets, which in turn creates local jobs and market 
opportunities for American companies and investors. Our work will also 
create market pressures on governments to reduce corruption, enforce 
the rule of law, and ensure access to economic opportunities for all.
    The fiscal year 2022 discretionary request will bolster our work to 
strengthen the rule of law and increase transparency, which will make 
for more favorable investment climates. We are also stressing the 
importance of economic analysis for increasing our impact per taxpayer 
dollar spent. The request also funds economic growth programs that are 
essential for sustainable development in developing countries, which 
generate the public resources governments need to invest in education, 
health, rural roads, as well as digital and other infrastructure. The 
Agency needs to adapt its systems, processes, and procedures to support 
full engagement with the private sector. In particular, we must upgrade 
our hiring, data, relationship management, professional development and 
procurement systems to engage the private sector at scale.
                        investing in our people
    None of our work is possible without the dedication of our staff 
across the world. This last year has demonstrated their strength and 
has provided lessons on what we need to do to meet the challenges and 
opportunities that we will face in the future. The COVID-19 pandemic 
has not only had an impact on the work we do overseas and the 
communities in which we work, but also on the lives of our dedicated 
USAID teams. Many of our staff have been working diligently to provide 
life-saving aid to communities around the world, even while their loved 
ones battle and succumb to COVID-19. Moving forward, we are seeking not 
a return to the previous status quo, but to a more dynamic work 
environment that better supports our staff and harnesses their 
capabilities. We must also strengthen the Agency to maximize our impact 
and build institutional capacity commensurate with USAID's role as a 
national security agency.
    Underpinning all of our efforts will be a strong focus on creating 
a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive USAID. On my first day as 
Administrator, I signed into action our Agency's new Diversity, Equity, 
and Inclusion strategy, designed to help us create a workplace that 
lives up to our ideals. The strategy outlines concrete steps the Agency 
will take to ensure we are creating a workforce that better reflects 
America, including the expansion of initiatives to create paid 
internship and fellowship opportunities as well as strategic outreach 
efforts to Minority Serving Institutions. It will also help us address 
Government Accountability Office recommendations to enhance data 
collection and reporting efforts, and strengthen our ability to 
disaggregate workforce data across various demographic categories.
    With your support, we are also increasing the size and agility of 
the career workforce to better advance U.S. national security 
priorities. Since last year, we have hired approximately 500 career 
employees and are working to reach our target levels of 1,850 Foreign 
Service and 1,600 Civil Service employees this year. However, it is not 
enough just to recruit talent, we must nurture and develop it. We will 
expand access to professional development and learning opportunities 
and equip our managers with the tools to lead talented and diverse 
teams. We will work to empower and support our Foreign Service 
Nationals, local country employees of USAID who represent the heart and 
soul of our workforce. And we will also build on the successes of our 
Staff Care employee assistance programs as we continue to invest in our 
employees' physical and mental well-being.
                     advancing peace and stability
    The number and diversity of flashpoints in the world right now is 
striking, from raids killing dozens of people in the Sahel, to an ISIS-
offshoot group storming a city in northern Mozambique, to armies in the 
Caucasus standing off, to long-standing conflicts in the Middle East 
boiling over. Violent extremist groups like Boko Haram in West Africa 
are taking advantage of conflict and instability to recruit and expand 
their ranks. We cannot promote global prosperity while rocks, bullets, 
and mortars are flying through the air. However, USAID assistance can 
lay the foundation for lasting peace and create conditions on the 
ground for long-lasting security.
    USAID implementation of the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and 
Security (WPS) is helping advance women's meaningful participation in 
preventing and resolving conflict, countering violent extremism, and 
building long-term stability, while also promoting the protection of 
women and girls' human rights; access to humanitarian assistance; and 
safety from gender-based violence, abuse, and exploitation around the 
world. Our military alone cannot solve these challenges; USAID 
assistance is a much more cost-effective way to ensure peace and 
security. As former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said, 
``Development is a lot cheaper than sending soldiers.'' We will 
maximize our resources to support civilian efforts to erode the appeal 
of extremist groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al-Qaeda, and help our 
partners become prosperous and peaceful nations.
                               conclusion
    The challenges I have described here don't just threaten countries 
far from our shores--they impact our national security and prosperity 
directly, here at home. The steps we take to combat COVID-19, climate 
change, hunger, conflict, and other ills abroad, make us safer, while 
demonstrating compassion and cooperation with people all over the 
world.
    With your support, USAID will have move aggressively to tackle 
these challenges in order to build a more stable and prosperous future 
for all of us. Thank you.

    Senator Coons. Thank you very much, Administrator Power.
    If you will forgive us, the Ranking Member and I need to go 
run to the Floor to vote. We are among the last Senators to not 
vote.
    So, this hearing will be in recess for roughly 15 minutes 
until the two of us can vote and return.
    [Recess.]
    Senator Coons. I call this hearing to order. We will 
reconvene.
    Ambassador Power, thank you for understanding that Members 
of this subcommittee needed to go and cast two votes on the 
Floor. I'm glad we're now going to turn to questions. We have 
7-minute rounds. I will make mine relatively brief so that 
other Members can ask questions, and then I will return to some 
of these later, if I might.
    First, regarding competition with China and our work 
countering authoritarianism around the world, USAID has many 
tools and many ways in which it can play a constructive role in 
these urgent matters, and I hope we can work together to 
support the development of new tools and strategies to promote 
democracy, to fight corruption, and to advance human rights, 
which I know are close to your heart.
    How can this subcommittee and how can the Senate as a whole 
support your efforts to more effectively respond to emerging 
threats to democracy around the world, like censorship tools, 
disinformation, and other ways in which authoritarian states 
are spreading the digital tools of authoritarianism?
    Ms. Power. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
    This is something, as you mentioned, that's near and dear 
to my heart. I think you will see reflected in the 
discretionary requests coming to you in the very near future a 
desire to really increase support for our partners that are 
fighting illiberal forces of all kinds internationally.
    I think you hit upon, in your question, a few of the 
elements of this. For example, what does it look like to create 
networks that put in place lessons learned on fighting 
misinformation? We have not cracked that code here 
domestically. So, we would do so with humility, but even to 
create some intentionality around that programming and around 
that conversation, I think, would be a step forward.
    Before the pandemic struck, as you know, there were 
actually more protests that occurred in 2019 than in any year 
in recorded history, more than during the Arab Spring, more 
than during the period leading to the end of the Cold War.
    So even though the trends in terms of the democracy 
recession are grim and I think well known by now, people are 
voting with their feet and I think you saw that in Sudan, as 
well, where a female-led revolution occurred in a place run by 
a genocidal dictator, something I never imagined that I would 
see and now there's a country that has a chance to usher in 
democracy. It's a halting process, as you know better than I 
do, but one I think also that we should support.
    I think to be able to be nimble and quick to respond to 
opportunities like those presented by the civilian transition 
government in Sudan is very important.
    The last thing I'll say is just mentioning the protests. 
Most of those protests in 2019, many of which have continued 
even throughout the pandemic, were motivated in response to 
corruption and I think that's where you're going to see a 
dedicated effort by USAID and our programs around the world, 
that is, to really think through how do we support those actors 
that are holding their governments accountable, tracking down 
pilfered resources, documenting what Chinese officials as well 
as their own government officials are doing to deforest and 
exploit other natural resources.
    I think there's a lot more we can be doing and we have 
actually an anticorruption coordinator coming into USAID for 
the first time with that purpose in mind.
    Senator Coons. I look forward to working with you on that.
    Let's turn to a specific region where combating corruption 
is going to be one of the big challenges we face: Central 
America.
    I'm pleased there's a $350 million increase for Central 
America, split between State and USAID, and your efforts to 
stand up a USAID task force reflects renewed focus on stemming 
the root causes of migration to our southern border from the 
Northern Triangle countries.
    I'm eager to work with you and with Vice President Harris 
to prevent men, women, children, and whole families from being 
forced to flee their homes and make the long journey north. I'm 
encouraged that combating corruption and impunities is a key 
pillar of your strategy.
    But we've got government partners in these three countries 
who, in different ways and for different reasons, lack a 
seriousness about upholding and respecting judicial 
independence, and who are not, I think, serious about fighting 
corruption. I'd be interested in whether you agree that 
empowering civil society is a critical approach to combating 
corruption so that civil society can be more effective 
advocates for government transparency and accountability.
    Ms. Power. I absolutely agree. I think that in our 
strategy, which I can detail either now or at a later time in 
the hearing, accountability and governance really are the first 
among equals. Yes, we have programs to enhance security, 
personal security. Yes, we have job growth programs. Yes, we 
are working on disaster resilience so that the hurricanes and 
other extreme weather events take less of a toll on 
communities. Yes, we have programs in combating gender-based 
violence.
    All of these are incredibly important, but we need 
leadership and partners who are willing, as well, to clean up 
corruption, to strengthen and not weaken democratic 
institutions, and just last point, just one indicator of how 
serious I am about your point, which is also my point, is that 
just last week, we actually had to channel money away from the 
Attorney General, the Civilian National Police in El Salvador, 
money that we had intended to have in programs with those 
institutions, and we channeled it to civil society because of 
the Salvadoran President's recent moves against the Attorney 
General and the Supreme Court.
    So, we need Rule of Law as the foundation for the success 
of all our other programs.
    Senator Coons. One civil society group that Chairman 
Menendez of the Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Rubio 
are working with is the International Justice Mission. They're 
championing legislation to replicate the Child Protection 
Compact Model that's been used to fight human trafficking 
elsewhere. I'd be interested in exploring that more with you 
and seeing what's possible in the Northern Triangle.
    My last question. In the first 4 months in office, the 
Biden Administration demonstrated its commitment, its focus on 
vaccinating all Americans. The majority of all Americans are 
now fully vaccinated. I'm dedicated to that cause and to that 
being a principal focus of our work, as well.
    But as we begin to contain the COVID-19 pandemic here in 
the United States and ensure we have the necessary supply of 
vaccines for our country, it is clear the pandemic continues to 
rage around the world. The variant that emerged in India that's 
far more transmissive than the base variant has just made it to 
my home State and is circling the world.
    We face an uncertain future as more and more variants will 
develop that could be both more transmissive and more lethal.
    There was an initial commitment. Four billion dollars has 
been appropriated for GAVI to support the work of COVAX in 
providing about 20 percent of all the vaccines needed in more 
than 115 countries, half of which has been obligated.
    There are some critical barriers to ramping up supply in 
the developing world. I'd just be interested if you'd speak to 
how well the COVAX process is working so far at getting 
vaccines to countries that need them, when do you expect we 
will need additional funding, and how can we work together to 
ensure more robust supply is available for the developing 
world?
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I mean, first, let me thank this committee and this 
subcommittee, and the Congress for the resources to be able to 
provide support to COVAX. The $2 billion, of the $4 billion 
appropriated at the end of last year, has already been 
obligated by USAID, as you mentioned, and the knowledge of that 
$2 billion has been a game-changer for COVAX's ability now to 
do contracts with pharmaceutical companies because they finally 
have meaningful capital on hand.
    That said, they, COVAX, have suffered a big blow given the 
scale of the pandemic in India. The Serum Institute of India, 
which had planned to supply upwards of a 140 million doses by 
the end of June, has had to pull back that supply because of 
the domestic emergency and COVAX now is looking to countries 
like ours and other countries around the world to contribute 
supply, to donate supply, and that's why President Biden's 
announcement last week I think was so important that the United 
States is looking to donate 80 million doses, vaccine doses by 
the end of June, which is five times more than any other 
country has donated to COVAX.
    So, the key, Senator, is supply. The key is ensuring that 
vaccines are available at scale and at cost. So, we are also in 
dialogue with the pharmaceutical companies to try to ensure 
again that a public good like vaccination, like pandemic 
prevention and response is resourced, but the biggest challenge 
that we face is just a shortage of supply, which I think these 
donations will begin to address, but we hope that the G7 and 
other international gatherings will allow other countries also 
to step up.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Administrator. I look forward to 
working closely with my colleagues on this subcommittee, with 
the administration, and with the private sector to find ways 
that we can make sure there's a robust supply available for the 
world.
    Senator Graham.
    Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    So, let's just pick up where Chairman Coons left off. When 
it comes to vaccinating the world, for lack of a better phrase, 
don't you think that's in our self interests here in America?
    Ms. Power. Absolutely, sir.
    Senator Graham. The longer the virus flourishes, the longer 
it can replicate itself and maybe come up with a form that the 
vaccines we have today are not effective. That'd be a disaster 
for us, right?
    Ms. Power. Yes, sir.
    Senator Graham. So, count me in, Mr. Chairman, for trying 
to increase funding to make sure as many people in the world 
can be vaccinated as soon as possible, and I'm certainly going 
to be looking at China to do their fair share.
    When it comes to Gaza and providing reconstruction aid, 
what's your plan to make sure that it doesn't benefit Hamas?
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator.
    As you know, the laws out of this body and, of course, 
administration imperatives are very strict and exacting in this 
regard. Not only can our assistance not benefit Hamas, it 
actually also under the Taylor Force Act cannot benefit the 
Palestinian Authority.
    Our partners on the ground are experienced in finding ways 
to work with, for example, civil society partners or to work 
with international organizations that themselves know the 
strictures on this funding.
    The vetting in that part of the world is the most exacting 
that we have anywhere on earth because of the imperative of 
keeping money out of Hamas's hands.
    So, I can tell you that it's an area of huge focus. We know 
that it's what the taxpayer expects and it's what you expect.
    Senator Graham. You will do everything possible to make 
sure that we comply with the Taylor Force Act?
    Ms. Power. Absolutely.
    Senator Graham. Okay. Great. So now let's talk a bit about 
the World Food Program (WFP). You're familiar with WFP, right?
    Ms. Power. I am.
    Senator Graham. They serve people daily all over the world. 
It seems to me that the World Food Program might be a good 
partner when it comes to how to vaccine people.
    Would you collaborate with them?
    Ms. Power. Absolutely. They are a key partner in every 
respect. Their comparative advantage, I think, on vaccination 
is they're often able to reach parts of countries that other 
large international organizations don't work in, the so-called 
last mile, very remote areas, rural areas, WFP is there, and so 
I think working with UNICEF, PAHO, World Food Program, and 
National Health Ministries, that's how we're going to get this 
done.
    Senator Graham. That's a good way to look at the last mile, 
I think.
    Are you familiar with the DFC, and do you see a partnership 
blooming between USAID and the DFC?
    Ms. Power. I think that partnership is already a very 
vibrant one. It's one I inherited from my predecessor and 
thanks to you for strengthening DFC. It's a very different 
organization than its predecessor in the Obama years.
    Senator Graham. I know you got a lot on your plate, but if 
you could give to the Chairman and myself a view of how you 
could strengthen this relationship and what we could do to help 
cross-pollinate these two agencies that would be appreciate 
because I think there's a lot of potential there.
    Let's get back to Central America illegal immigration. I 
was supportive of Vice President Biden's efforts, I think it's 
$750 million we set aside for Central America to address better 
governance, poverty, corruption, and lack of the rule of law. 
So, count me in for helping these countries develop at a more 
rapid rate so people will not feel so threatened and want to 
leave.
    But here's my question. Are you familiar with the ``pull 
factors'' that exist in our law, like the asylum program where 
people are detained but released within the United States and 
never show up to the hearing? Are you familiar with that 
dynamic?
    Ms. Power. I mean, I'm a citizen and read the newspaper, 
but it's out of my area of expertise.
    Senator Graham. The only reason I mention that is that I'm 
convinced we need to do two things. It's in our interests to 
invest in these countries to make them more stable, but we have 
situations in our own law that if we don't change it's just 
going to be counterproductive.
    So, when you sit down and look at ways to stabilize these 
countries, it's imperative that we look at the phenomenon of 
the ``pull factors''. Do you have an opinion as of this moment 
how much of our asylum policies are ``pull factors''?
    Ms. Power. My emphasis is on root causes for obvious 
reasons because that's where our programming is.
    Senator Graham. My point is what if one of the root causes 
is our own law?
    Ms. Power. That would be out of my area of jurisdiction.
    Senator Graham. Okay.
    Ms. Power. Maybe just to say one thing. I mean, one area 
where USAID and DHS are working very collaboratively is 
creating lawful pathways. You know, the State Department, I 
think, has engaged you all on setting up UNHCR offices----
    Senator Graham. Yes,----
    Ms. Power [continuing]. In the countries----
    Senator Graham [continuing]. Count me in for that.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. For asylum and refugee claims, but 
beyond that, the H2B and H2A Programs where people can apply 
and be vetted and where things are done through regular order, 
USAID is helping promote those programs on the ground in the 
three countries.
    Senator Graham. Well, Mr. Chairman, I would suggest that we 
have a collaboration between the Department of Homeland 
Security and USAID to make sure that as we develop the 
countries where this problem is most prevalent that we also 
have a realistic view that as long as these ``pull factors'' 
work, it doesn't matter how much money you spend, and I just 
want the taxpayer to know that we're looking at this problem 
holistically.
    When it comes to developing democracy, count me in with 
what the Chairman said, and you have a long history of this and 
we appreciate it.
    What areas of the world are you most concerned about where 
things are going backward and give me some areas of the world 
where you think we have an opportunity to go forward.
    Ms. Power. Let me say that in Africa, 69 percent of the 
populations under 30, right. One of the most vibrant sets of 
possibilities is the young people who have such energy and I 
think before the pandemic growth rates across the continent 
that were the envy of many other countries.
    I do worry about the trends in Sub-Saharan Africa, 
particularly not only do you see the kinds of events that we 
saw in Mali just in the last day or two on the heels of 
previous events in Mali that one would be worried about, but 
also extra constitutional measures prolonging terms in office, 
unfree elections like those we've seen in Uganda, not having 
elections or having flawed elections.
    Ethiopia was going in a positive direction, but we've seen 
the horrors being perpetrated in Tigray and an election coming 
up, the conditions for which are not at all right for those 
elections to be free and fair.
    So, I think this is an area I know that you've worked on 
throughout your career and strengthening civil society, using 
our diplomacy and our voice to hold leaders accountable when 
they're straying from the Rule of Law and straying from 
democratic norms, but I could talk about----
    Senator Graham. Sure.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. Every country.
    Senator Graham. No, that's good, that's good. I think 
you've laid out a challenge for us all here and we want to 
help.
    Finally, I want to welcome Senator Hagerty to the 
subcommittee. He's a former Ambassador to Japan and I look 
forward to working with you, Bill. I think you'll be a great 
addition to the subcommittee.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Graham.
    Welcome, Senator Hagerty. I now would like to turn to our 
Chairman of the Full Committee and the Chairman and Ranking 
Member of this subcommittee for 30 years, Senator Leahy.
    Senator Leahy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I am delighted to see Ambassador Power. Mr. Chairman, I 
want to congratulate you on your new role. I don't think we 
could have a more capable and passionate Chairman for this 
subcommittee, and I believe Chairman Coons will be able to do 
what Senator Graham and I did for years: report bipartisan 
bills almost unanimously. I think that's the hallmark of the 
Appropriations Committee. We want to keep on doing that.
    Administrator Power, you're a superb choice for this job, 
although I don't know if we should offer you congratulations or 
condolences considering what you're facing with climate change, 
global poverty, complex humanitarian emergencies, and virtually 
every problem around the world.
    I appreciate that you've emphasized the national security 
role USAID plays. A lot of people don't know that about USAID. 
Many of the problems you're working on around the world involve 
key threats to U.S. national security, which you have to face 
in ways the Defense Department and the State Department 
actually can't.
    I don't think the mission of USAID has ever been more 
important than it is today. We need somebody like you with the 
experience and the knack of knowing who to call and what 
questions to ask.
    We've had two enormously costly wars. They dragged on for 
decades. I don't think anybody's going to say the world's 
appreciably safer because of that. I think it's time that we 
start investing in our soft power.
    The details of the budget request won't be available until 
Friday, but while I do see the top line for State and Foreign 
Operations is a welcome increase, I'm concerned it falls short 
of what you need to respond to the many problems that you're 
going to have to face.
    Let me turn to one of the challenges we see. The U.K. has 
announced it's going to reduce its overseas development aid by 
70 percent. That's a loss of three-quarters of a billion 
dollars. They've been a key partner in Latin America and 
Africa, South Asia, Yemen, and so on.
    What implications does that have for us because we have 
important responsibilities in all those places?
    Ms. Power. I appreciate very much that question, and you're 
absolutely right that many of our closest partners, but 
especially the U.K., are making adjustments in their 
programming in this budget-constrained environment where all 
countries are reeling from the economic effects of COVID.
    You asked a factual question about what some of the impacts 
are likely to be. From our preliminary assessment, I think the 
U.K. budget cuts are going to bring about negative impacts in 
at least 11 countries. There is now a funding gap of more than 
$750 million and we were just talking about the Northern 
Triangle and the root causes of migration.
    Unfortunately, it looks like the United Kingdom will be 
ending all development and humanitarian assistance in Latin 
America, which I know is an area of longstanding interest to 
you. Also, with famine conditions looming in Yemen, the UK is 
cutting its contributions to humanitarian assistance in Yemen 
and in Syria by more than half.
    So, this is something that we have to deal with, that all 
donor countries now have to think about in our own budget-
constrained environments; what do we do to make up these 
shortfalls which are going to hit very vulnerable people very 
hard.
    Senator Leahy. This is one example of things that we have 
to be concerned with that change all the time. I'd like to turn 
to COVID. What happens if we and other countries don't get 
vaccines to countries that can't pay for them? As you mentioned 
earlier, as the virus mutates we have a greater problem.
    People finally realized with Ebola, after many on this 
subcommittee kept saying we need to respond to Ebola and people 
were saying it's not here, we would point out that it's only 
one airplane trip away.
    The President's talking about 80 million doses. Of course, 
we need a lot more than that. So please keep us posted on what 
you think can be done. COVAX has been criticized for allocating 
vaccines proportionally by population. Some say that 
shortchanges countries where the number of COVID cases is high 
while providing vaccines to others with relatively few cases. 
How do we respond to that?
    Ms. Power. Well, again, I think international institutions 
work best when the United States is fully engaged with them and 
so just to reiterate my gratitude for the generous contribution 
by this body to COVAX because without capital, without 
financing, it was unable to do the deals that it needed to do 
with the big pharmaceutical companies. So, it now has the 
finances to secure supply but again has fallen behind in the 
queue.
    In terms of its own allocation strategy, I think that's 
something that we're in conversation with COVAX about. The 
biggest issue for them right now, Senator, is that there are 
many parts of the world where one shot has been dispensed to, 
for example, health workers or frontline workers and the second 
shot has not been forthcoming because the expected supply from 
India had to be pulled back because of the crisis in India, and 
so it is in our interests, as many of you have said, for health 
workers and frontline workers to get vaccinated everywhere in 
the world as just a foundation for larger-scale vaccination.
    I think COVAX's biggest challenge so far has been lack of 
financing and lack of supply more than any issues with country 
selection.
    Senator Leahy. Thank you. We will talk further about this 
as my time is nearly up.
    None of us care a bit for Hamas, but we do, many, many of 
us, care greatly about Palestinian families.
    I worry about all of the restraints on getting aid to the 
Palestinian people.
    So please work with us on how we might get back to where we 
can start working to improve the lives of the Palestinians.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Coons. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    We'll now turn to Senator Hagerty. I understand Senators 
Boozman and Moran are on their way, but as they're not here, it 
is your turn, sir.
    Senator Hagerty. Well, thank you, Chairman Coons, and it's 
wonderful to join you and the rest of my colleagues on this 
subcommittee.
    I also want to thank Ranking Member Graham for his 
leadership, and, Administrator Power, thank you for your 
testimony and for being here today with us.
    Before I get to the questions I wanted to ask, I just 
wanted to follow up on a couple points that Senator Graham 
made. One is on the pull factor that he was talking about 
that's such a major driver of the massive amount of illegal 
immigration that we're seeing with our border having collapsed 
in the southern part of the United States.
    I recently took a trip to Guatemala and to Mexico. I met 
with the President of Guatemala. I met with his Foreign 
Minister, met with the Foreign Minister of Mexico, with the 
Economic Minister of Mexico. They were very clear with me that 
the world listens when America speaks and that the messages 
that come from Washington are being marketed by coyotes. 
They're marketed to the most vulnerable parts of their 
population.
    The coyotes are saying, look, look what's being said here 
in Washington. If I win my election, you'll be treated better. 
Fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage, $1,400 checks to illegal 
immigrants. These things are being marketed by the coyotes, and 
they are attracting vulnerable people to give them their life 
savings and put their lives on the line to make a very 
treacherous journey. More than half of the people, I 
understand, are victims of some sort of crime, whether they're 
involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, or some other 
sort of illegal activity, or they're the victims of the crime 
themselves.
    So, our neighbors to the south of us are very upset with us 
for creating this pull and they were very clear to me that we 
have a very significant role to play. I was there to convey the 
urgency of the situation from America's standpoint, from the 
United States Senate standpoint, but they feel a very big 
threat, as well. They have national security issues, also.
    They've had Russians, Chinese, Yemenis, and Romanians 
moving through their country. They don't know who's coming 
through their country. There's a massive national security risk 
that they perceive. So, I hope that in working with these 
countries, Administrator, you'll find good partnerships there 
because I do think there is ample room for economic development 
with them.
    They want to partner with us. They need help on the Rule of 
Law. They need infrastructure. I think they will welcome the 
type of partnerships that you're building with the Development 
Finance Corporation, and we have a role to play there.
    But first and foremost is we need to secure our border and 
we need to bring some rational behavior into the system. So, 
there is a very urgent crisis brewing there and I appreciate 
everyone's attention to that here, even though it may be 
outside your immediate arena. I just want to follow up on that.
    The other point that Senator Graham made regarding our aid 
to Gaza right now, I share the same concern that Gaza is 
controlled by Hamas and other terrorists, and I'm very 
concerned that the funds that we send to them--now Secretary 
Blinken has increased that number to over $300 million--that 
those funds could be very easily misappropriated by those 
groups that control the area and therefore I put forward the 
Emergency Resupply the Iron Dome Act, to basically divert those 
funds from Gaza and put them into position to restock the Iron 
Dome Defense System that has actually saved many, many civilian 
lives there as Hamas was firing on innocent civilians in 
Israel.
    So, I am very concerned. I appreciate your acknowledgement 
of the importance of the Taylor Force Act. Mr. Taylor was 
actually a student of my alma mater, Vanderbilt University, a 
tragic death there, and we're very concerned about this, and I 
appreciate your pledge to follow up.
    To the point I really wanted to talk with you about today, 
that's the WGDP. We've talked about that before. I appreciate 
in our conversation in March you acknowledged your agreement 
with the purpose of the WGDP. You acknowledged the fact that 
there's a very strong linkage between women's economic 
engagement and the political and economic stability of a 
nation.
    So, I think the program has tremendous potential. As you 
remember, the WGDP was established in 2019. It's a program that 
really is aimed at women's economic engagement on a worldwide 
basis and it looks to use several tools. One is to engage women 
in the workforce and to remove the barriers that often exist 
there.
    Another is to really support women entrepreneurs. That's 
helping them get capital. It's helping them access markets. 
It's giving them mentors, things that really will develop them 
further. Also, it's about removing the laws and the practices 
that interfere with women's economic empowerment in those 
nations and I applaud all of those goals as I know you do.
    The goal at the time it was set back in 2019 was to have 50 
million women engaged in the program by 2025 and in its first 
year, 12 million women were already engaged. So, I think it has 
tremendous potential, and I would look forward to hearing your 
plans now, Administrator, for how you'd move forward with the 
program.
    Ms. Power. Thank you. I remember our phone call and our 
follow-up very well on this, and, while I've only been on the 
job a few weeks, do have a sense of the impact that it's had, 
also the popularity of these programs.
    As you indicated, I actually did not have the figure of 12 
million engaged already. I think the aspect of it that is the 
toughest nut to crack but I'm very glad you emphasized it is 
this question of gender norms and the legal and regulatory 
environment and how this fund can help secure progress in those 
domains.
    We're looking forward to continuing these programs in 
workforce development, entrepreneurship, again looking at the 
normative environment. We have a longstanding commitment to 
women's economic empowerment at the agency, and what I'm 
looking to do, and I really appreciate you as being such a 
spirited champion of these efforts, is thinking about how these 
tenets also just get mainstreamed throughout all of USAID's 
programming, whether it's dealing with agricultural settings or 
education or small business or the DFC, how we look out for 
finding female-run businesses, small businesses and so forth 
internationally.
    So, I don't have granular detail to offer you at this 
point. I'm more familiar with it than I was when we spoke, but 
I think it received a $100 million in its first 2 years and 
we're looking at continuing the programs that comprise it.
    Senator Hagerty. Well, I'm glad to hear that, and when you 
talk about the tenets moving through the entire program, I 
couldn't agree more, but I don't want to lose focus on this 
program. I think it's an extremely valuable program, and I 
don't want to see it dissipate or dilute. I would love to work 
with you on concentrating it.
    To the extent legislation can help bolster this, I look 
forward to working with you and your team to do that, as well, 
because I'd like to see this really deepened and expanded.
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hagerty. Thank you. Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Hagerty.
    Senator Durbin.
    Senator Durbin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ambassador Power, good to see you and congratulations on 
your new position. You are the right person for the job. You've 
been asked a lot of questions about immigration policy. I know 
that isn't your responsibility at all. We all share concerns 
about it.
    I will just say that for those of either political party 
who want to engage in this immigration conversation, we've 
started it already, and I invite them to come and be part of a 
bipartisan effort to come up with something thoughtful.
    In terms of our immigration policy, if it were just the 
asylum policy, you would assume we would be overrun with 
Mexicans, but it turns out most of the people who are 
presenting themselves at the border overwhelmingly are from 
three other countries and have to travel through Mexico to get 
to our border. So, there's something going on in those 
countries. Some of it is sinister, like these smugglers and 
coyotes, and some of it is just plain awful life and some of 
the reactions to it. People come to the United States in 
desperation.
    I cannot imagine taking my life savings and handing it to a 
smuggler along with my 4-year-old child and say, you know, put 
this child at the border and carry this little plastic bag with 
a telephone number in it, I mean, and they're doing it. What 
kind of desperation do you reach to even consider that 
possibility?
    So, working in those three countries I think is part of the 
honest answer to dealing with our southern border.
    Let me mention a few things. Congratulations to the 
administration for stopping the American withdrawal from the 
World Health Organization from the previous President and also 
for joining and helping fund the COVAX Global Vaccine effort 
and commitment to donate 80 million COVID vaccine doses around 
the world.
    Coincidentally, we were late here because we were voting on 
the Floor to preserve the special drawing rights. There was an 
effort to offer an amendment on that and we stopped it, thank 
goodness. So, the special drawing rights to the IMF will be 
available to poorer countries to fund their vaccine needs. That 
is a step in the right direction.
    I'd like to talk about several things USAID does that I 
think are meaningful and they fit probably in the small bowl 
category.
    I've come to the conclusion at this stage of my career that 
sometimes the little things are the big things when it comes to 
transforming lives and there are two I'd like to share with 
you.
    I once worked for a man named Paul Simon. You may remember 
him. He served on this subcommittee and he was also a Member of 
the Foreign Relations Committee, and he wrote a book called 
Tapped Out 25 years ago. It never made the New York Times Best 
Seller List, but he predicted the 21st Century would be a 
struggle for drinking water and sanitation.
    I knew that Paul wouldn't have wanted a building named 
after him, but I named after him the Paul Simon Water for the 
World Act and thanks to USAID has made a dramatic difference 
all around the world.
    This program, since 2008, has helped 57 million people 
either receive for the first time or improve their access to 
clean water in the world and 38 million with sanitation 
services.
    My staffer Chris Homan wants to show a photograph that 
shows him standing in Kenya--that's Chris.
    Mr. Homan. Ghana.
    Senator Durbin. Ghana? Ghana. And this is something called 
a bignaloo, which basically is a sanitation facility for people 
in one of these poor villages, and they're pretty happy to see 
it. It gives them much better public health outcomes in the 
area. Girls, of course, are spared the embarrassment of not 
having any place for privacy, and it becomes part of a system, 
public health system, and I hope that you'll remember the Paul 
Simon Water for the World Act in your undertakings.
    The last thing I want to commend to you is another 
Illinois-based project. We have a great bicycle manufacturing 
company in Chicago named SRAM, S-R-A-M, and it created a 
nonprofit called World Bicycle Relief, sending bicycles 
primarily in Africa to developing countries and helping 
eliminate distance as a barrier when it comes to education, 
health care, and economic opportunity.
    Before I showed up and won the attention of Senator Graham 
and I hope Senator Coons and Senator Leahy, they had 
distributed 520,000 bicycles in Africa, sturdy bicycles that 
made a difference. Girls started going to school. Their fathers 
wanted to keep the bicycles because they took goods to the 
market.
    Well, we decided that mobility was a good thing in the 
developing world and because of the efforts of this 
subcommittee, another 42,000 bicycles have gone to Africa. I 
think there's an opportunity here and having been to Africa, as 
I'm sure you have, you see the bicycles are used for 
everything, including as ambulances in some places where we 
visited.
    So, I hope that you will consider those projects, Water for 
the World and the World Bicycle Relief, as part of the small 
bowl but equally important other greater things in expanding 
the United States' role in the world in a positive way.
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator. Absolutely.
    Senator Durbin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Durbin. I look forward to 
working with you on these two programs that I'm well familiar 
with. During my very first trip to Africa as a Senator, Senator 
Isakson and I visited in Ghana one of the programs that had 
benefited from the Paul Simon Water for the World initiative. 
So, thank you. Thank you for your leadership on that.
    Senator Moran.
    Senator Moran. Chairman, thank you.
    Administrator Power, welcome. Thank you for your public 
service.
    You highlighted in your testimony food aid. I am a co-chair 
with a couple of my Republican colleagues and a couple of my 
Democratic colleagues of the Senate Hunger Caucus. It's a 
result of one of the several midlife crises I had and decided I 
wanted to have more value to this job than it otherwise might 
provide and so I offer to you my desire to work with USAID in 
regard to food. My interest is both domestic as well as your 
responsibilities of international food aid.
    I want to highlight one of the things that is important to 
me in regard to food aid. I've supported local and regional 
purchase initiatives in international food aid efforts in 
certain circumstances when it's the best humanitarian approach 
for a specific situation.
    When local and regional food purchases are not an option, 
however, I certainly want you to allow U.S. farmers the 
opportunity to provide food from international sources when 
they're not available to purchase.
    In November 2020, I want to use an example, in November 
2020, USAID announced $20 million was going to purchase wheat 
to deliver to Sudan. Yet despite Kansas wheat being readily 
available, piled on the ground in instances, the $20 million 
was used by the implementing partner to purchase the wheat from 
Ukraine.
    While it's only a single example, it begs a broader 
question of local and regional procurement program 
requirements. So, I would ask do you believe if local and 
regional purchases are not the viable option and purchases of 
U.S. food and commodities ought to be given preference before 
purchases from foreign sources.
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator.
    Well, I look forward to learning from you and other Members 
of your caucus about this area generally. I can assure you that 
U.S. food aid will absolutely continue to include the purchase 
of U.S. commodities. I very much appreciate you noting that 
there's some circumstances in humanitarian emergencies where it 
might be advisable to provide cash transfers or local 
purchases, but we're not looking to replace U.S. commodities.
    We believe that there's dual benefit, benefit, of course, 
to the farmers in Kansas and elsewhere, and great benefit to 
desperate people who see that food coming and the American flag 
on the sack of wheat and where it came from and are able to 
feed their families because of it.
    Senator Moran. Thank you. Kansas farmers take significant 
pride in that scene in which their product that they tend and 
nurture and eke out of the ground is put in the position in 
which hit can save lives.
    USAID had an informational bulletin dated August 8, 2019, 
regarding source and origin of local, regional, and 
international procurement requirements. I just would ask you to 
commit to reviewing and updating that bulletin to ensure that 
food and commodities from our own country's farmers is not 
passed over. So, a follow-up to what we just talked about, if 
you would take a look at that August 8, 2019, bulletin.
    Ms. Power. Okay. I will make myself familiar with that, 
thank you, and get back to you.
    Senator Moran. Thank you. And then let me highlight one 
other issue. Senator Kane and I have an amendment pending to 
the current piece of legislation that the Senate is debating 
this week, and it is basically a sense of the Senate that 
directs the Secretary of State in consultation with you to 
enter into multilateral and bilateral talks to share excess 
vaccines.
    You note President Biden has pledged to provide 80 million 
doses. I am very interested in us saving lives around the 
world. I'm very interested in us in improving the health and 
well-being of Americans by doing so, and I'm also cognizant of 
the fact that our engagement in this effort has, I would think, 
significant benefits to the United States and our relationship 
with other countries, those who are our allies and friends and 
perhaps those who are less so or neutral or being swayed 
perhaps by China to develop a closer relationship with a 
country I consider our adversary at beset.
    So, I highlight that for you and for our colleagues in this 
subcommittee, and I would ask, I suppose, if there's a question 
her, how is the administration prioritizing which countries or 
multilateral bodies receive doses and by what quantities?
    Ms. Power. Thank you. And maybe just before I answer your 
question, if I may just sort of take note of the impression 
that is being given that there is strong apparent bipartisan 
support for not only global vaccine distribution and sharing 
but for the premise behind it, which is that our fates are 
connected to the fates of people who live elsewhere, that, if 
the pandemic is raging somewhere else, however far away, that 
that is a threat and a risk at least, given variants and all 
else.
    I think that it's just really important that that be 
appreciated, that this is not a zero-sum proposition. This is a 
positive sum proposition. As we provide this global public 
good, it is in the interest of our people.
    As to the question of country selection and who we're 
working through, what President Biden has indicated is that 75 
percent of the doses we share will likely be shared through 
COVAX, that they have the indemnity agreements and the legal 
agreements already put in place with various developing 
countries where the needs are so great, and then, as I 
indicated earlier, I don't know if you were here yet, it will 
be very clear also where those doses are coming from. So, 
they're going through COVAX, but people will be very clear that 
these are American doses coming as a result of American 
ingenuity and the generosity of the American people. I think 
that's important and so that's part of the answer.
    Then there will be emergencies, of course, that arise or 
needs that arise bilaterally and so 25 percent of whatever our 
excess supply is that we are donating will be reserved to be 
able to deploy bilaterally and even when you're deploying 
bilaterally, you may end up doing so through COVAX because they 
have worked with UNICEF and PAHO to put the infrastructure in 
place to be able to vaccinate people and even though they have 
made modest inroads, you are seeing COVAX's presence or its 
deliveries and its vaccines in dozens of countries around the 
world already.
    In terms of country selection itself within the larger 
question of who in the 193 countries in the world gets the 
vaccine, it's a combination of multiple factors. It's obviously 
challenging because so many countries face this need right now, 
but some combination of, of course, the relationship we have 
with the countries, the public health and epidemiological, 
scientific trajectory of the disease, and a sense of where the 
vaccines can do the most good, the infrastructure and readiness 
of countries to receive vaccines. So, with those factors, even 
as I describe it, you can see why it's so important we have 
more supply because you can imagine how many countries even 
with those factors articulated need doses urgently now, and 
China is moving quickly to provide its vaccines.
    So, this is an urgent question and it's very important that 
President Biden has made the announcement he has, and also 
indicated that more supply will be forthcoming after we've 
dispensed the 80 million.
    Senator Moran. Ambassador, thank you.
    Ms. Power. Thank you, sir.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Moran.
    Let me just briefly mention that I worked closely with 
Chairman Corker on trying to find the right balance where the 
justifiable understandable pride American farmers feel in 
helping feed the world is balanced with efficiency and cost 
effectiveness. I'd love to work with you on that.
    I just recently visited a refugee camp in Sudan where I saw 
red lentils purchased from farmers from the United States by 
USAID being delivered to Tigrayan refugees, and I think there's 
a lot we can do together to make sure that we are feeding a 
hungry world in a responsible and cost-effective way.
    On the vaccine issue, I think the prioritization here is 
going to be key, as Senator Moran referenced. I just filed an 
amendment with Senator Sasse to also prioritize rapidly-scaling 
up vaccine diplomacy and I would put a priority on supporting 
those countries that are facing real pressure from some of our 
competitors globally who are using or restricting access to 
vaccine alternatives in a way that is having very profound and 
grave consequences for the stability and security of other 
countries.
    But with that, forgive me, I should not digress too long. 
Thank you, Senator.
    Let me now turn to Senator Murphy of Connecticut.
    Senator Murphy. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Good to see you, Ambassador, so grateful for your decision 
to return to public service. You've got a lot on your plate.
    I want to focus a few questions first on President Biden's 
commitment to democracy promotion and governments' improvements 
abroad. I think there are both national sort of selfish and 
altruistic reasons to engage in democracy promotion.
    I think we have an obligation as the most powerful country 
in the world to try to lift more people to a point where they 
have the ability to determine for themselves what happens in 
their own lives, but I don't think there's any way to protect 
our own democracy if we're not linking arms with other 
advocates of democracy abroad and so a few questions.
    I was on the phone this morning with a group of Yemeni 
civic leaders and one of them made a very simple point to me 
that stuck. We were talking about the U.S.'s ability to try to 
be an interlocutor for peace in Yemen and he said, ``You know, 
you have to remember that your influence is your reputation,'' 
and he wanted to talk to me about two limiting factors on our 
influence there.
    One was our drone campaign which has the reputation in 
Yemen of hitting wrong targets. The other thing he wanted to 
talk to me about was January 6 and the image that the rest of 
the world has of a deeply imperfect struggling democracy.
    And so I want to talk to you about the way in which we 
spend money overseas on democracy promotion and the ways that 
USAID can do that better, but I wanted to ask you that first 
question, which is, to what extent is our money any good if 
people have less reason today than they might have prior to 
associate themselves with the United States or worried about 
the future health of American democracy or worried about our 
sort of over-militarized footprint around the world? How much 
of your work in democracy promotion at USAID is going to be 
compromised by factors that are outside of the control of your 
grantees?
    Ms. Power. Well, thanks for that immensely challenging 
question right off the bat, Senator.
    I guess what I'd say is America leads no matter what we do. 
So, the divisive debate, strangely, over the events of January 
6 is something broadly followed around the world. The events of 
January 6th were broadcast all around the world and talked 
about all around the world.
    It certainly causes me to go in a spirit of humility as I 
go to talk to foreign leaders about the need to respect 
election results, the need to protest peacefully and respect 
peaceful protests and so forth.
    I think many, many countries around the world, including 
established democracies like our own, are grappling with the 
effects of misinformation, with political polarization, with 
the erosion of respect for truth and facts and science and so 
forth, and so we sit down with our partners and our friends in 
civil society and brainstorm together in a way that perhaps we 
should have been doing all along, but I definitely think that 
there is an effect when the United States itself is not living 
the values that we have been preaching and trying to propagate 
through our programs for a long time.
    I think you mentioned international humanitarian law 
indirectly. While this is outside of USAID's remit, but we do 
have training programs in international humanitarian law. Our 
respect for these principles is incredibly important. Our 
articulation of that respect really matters when I or Secretary 
Blinken are engaging or you are engaging a foreign leader or 
foreign general on excesses in terms of its military practices 
and so forth or war crimes for that matter, so all of this is 
related.
    That said, there are programmatic needs that civil society 
actors have. There is a hunger to do more anti-corruption work 
of the kind you and I have talked about. There is a real 
Achilles heel there for some of the illiberal forces.
    Usually if you're consolidating power around you and doing 
away with checks and balances, you tend to also be 
concentrating resources, as well, whether national resources or 
money pilfered from your citizens, and that's an area that we 
can emphasize, alongside creating a network dedicated to 
thinking through what these modern very relatively recent 
threats to democracy look like because the misinformation 
threat 10 years ago when USAID might have been developing 
democracy programming in country X, it wasn't misinformation on 
the mind, right? It was a set of other dynamics.
    So, making sure that we are meeting people where they are 
with their needs and that also we're learning from them, 
injecting back into our domestic deliberations what they've 
learned about how to fight misinformation, for example.
    Senator Murphy. It reminds me of a conversation I had with 
one of your grantees who talked to me about the need for a 
DARPA for democracy, right, the idea that we do need to 
reassess the tools that we have or the conversation on this 
subcommittee.
    In the minute that I have remaining, just talk a little bit 
about maybe your early assessment of how we spread dollars to 
do these jobs and whether there is a critique that we might 
spread these thin dollars too thinly.
    Obviously when you look at nine new countries being added 
to the list of those that no longer, you know, are democracies, 
you don't sort of come to the conclusion that the way we've 
been spending money has been working effectively, and it's part 
of that critique that we sort of try to spend a little bit of 
money everywhere? Is part of that critique that we don't give 
enough flexibility to USAID and State to be able to move money 
around to try to, you know, tackle an emerging corruption issue 
in a province or a city or a state early on? What's your sort 
of early sense?
    Ms. Power. Well, I certainly think more nimbleness is an 
imperative. If you think about budgets as they were drafted or 
conceived a couple years ago, they didn't imagine a pandemic, 
right, and I think the lead time, from articulating a set of 
budget priorities and when that money actually gets obligated, 
that the amount of time that has passed in a world moving this 
rapidly is not ideal. Let me put it that way.
    And so, we need to work on that and I think it's a 
conversation we can have together, but it's also the internal 
dynamics within the executive branch that we need to work 
through.
    I think the challenge, Senator, with your question right 
now is just that the equivalent of a meteorite has just hit the 
planet, and so one of the things in going into a job like 
running USAID, this incredible agency that I, in the normal 
order, would be so looking forward to is growing our programs 
when it relates to economic development, global health 
security, and other investments that are going to last these 
countries and all of that is reflected in our discretionary 
request.
    But at the same time, the famines that are looming in Yemen 
and in Ethiopia and the fact that the number of people facing 
severe food insecurity is doubling and that 1.6 billion kids 
have been out of school over the last year and that women are 
bearing the disproportionate effects of COVID everywhere, 
including even in this country, that gender-based violence is 
on the rise, the challenge is less that we're spread too thin 
and more that we face all of these challenges--and I don't 
think we can blame our programming in fairness for the slippage 
in democracy any more than we can for the pandemic.
    I think it's actually been arguably, at least according to 
a lot of the evaluations I've read, mitigating of some of even 
the worst effects that we could have seen, but its how do we 
get other actors involved alongside of us where there's a 
division of labor.
    Before you came, we were talking about the United Kingdom's 
unfortunate budget cuts which come at a very difficult time for 
people in need around the world.
    I want to build out our ability at USAID to work with the 
private sector. We will have an opportunity to do that and have 
already in our efforts to meet India, Nepal, and other 
countries in South Asia in their period of great need.
    The private sector in the United States has been heroic in 
the way that it has stepped up to provide supplies alongside 
the U.S. Government and it's a partnership that I think can be 
richer and incredibly impactful alongside that with the 
Development Finance Corporation and these other tools.
    But I think the real challenge now is it's not just that 
the world has needs, it is the extent to which so many of these 
needs are more acute than we have seen them in our lifetimes.
    Senator Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Murphy.
    Senator Van Hollen.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Madam 
Administrator, let me add my word of congratulations and thanks 
to you for taking on this very important responsibility at this 
moment in our history and laying out in your testimony the 
important role that AID plays in a whole host of areas right 
now in terms of COVID-19 relief and trying to make sure that 
our 80 million current doses are distributed where they're 
needed, our COVAX commitment, your challenges with respect to 
climate change, and Power Africa and other initiatives, your 
efforts to counter authoritarian regimes and to promote 
democracy, as Senator Murphy was discussing with you, and 
humanitarian assistance, among other important priorities.
    On the humanitarian assistance front, if I could just ask 
you about a current humanitarian disaster, I think we're all 
pleased to see the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. We are 
pleased to see the Iron Dome perform well and think everyone on 
this subcommittee supported that and we were all very sorry to 
see loss of life on both sides.
    We now have, as you know, a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. 
It was already a humanitarian crisis. I was pleased to see 
Secretary Blinken's statements recently with respect to the 
United States providing an additional $75 million in 
development and economic assistance. As I understand, that will 
be ESF monies through USAID, is that right?
    Ms. Power. A large share of it. I believe some also to 
UNRA.
    Senator Van Hollen. Got it. Well, now I know there's also 
five and a half million in immediate disaster assistance to 
Gaza and over $32 million for UNRA's emergency humanitarian----
    Ms. Power. Okay. Right.
    Senator Van Hollen [continuing]. Appeal.
    So just a couple questions. You know, in order for this 
U.S. commitment, as you've pointed out and others, this is the 
most vetted money in the world. Obviously a penny's not going 
to go to Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, but we 
shouldn't--you know, the Palestinian people shouldn't have to 
suffer needlessly and so we do not have a current U.S. mission 
director, I think, in place in Israel, is that right?
    My understanding is that the USAID mission director 
position for the West Bank and Gaza is open.
    Ms. Power. I believe someone's just arriving----
    Senator Van Hollen. Just arriving?
    Ms. Power. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. All right
    Ms. Power. Well timed.
    Senator Van Hollen. That's good news for the hearing. So, 
you have somebody landing now?
    Ms. Power. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. Going to be the new director? Great.
    The other thing, if you could just--obviously assistance is 
only as successful as its ability to receive the intended 
recipients. If you could keep me and the subcommittee posted on 
the extent to which the entry points at Araz and Karim Shalom 
are open.
    As you know, one is the primary entry point for people, the 
other for commercial traffic, and there have been reports 
recently that it's been difficult to get relief supplies 
through. I don't know if you've followed those reports, but if 
you could just keep me and anyone else interested sort of 
notified on an ongoing basis during this period of the ability 
to get emergency relief through. Could I get your commitment to 
do that?
    Ms. Power. Absolutely, sir, yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you.
    With respect to UNRA, as you pointed out, there's the 
emergency funding that's coming through, and UNRA, I think most 
people know that we're talking about UNRA funds not just in 
Gaza, West Bank, but also Jordan, Lebanon, other countries, 
right?
    Ms. Power. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. Is it the policy of this administration 
that the United States will return its commitment to UNRA to 
the levels that we provided before the Trump administration?
    Ms. Power. Senator, I actually do not know what is in the 
discretionary budget request only because that comes through 
the State Department. So, I don't have an answer to that but 
can get back to you later today even.
    Senator Van Hollen. If you could, that'd be great.
    Ms. Power. Sure.
    Senator Van Hollen. I hope we will return to our prior 
levels of commitment to UNRA.
    Let me ask you about Sudan. I think the Chairman may have 
mentioned that he took a trip, we took a trip together to Sudan 
and the UAE a couple weeks ago, and I heard some of your 
testimony about the really important transition taking place in 
Sudan from the brutal dictatorship to an effort to transition 
to democracy and all the challenges that entails.
    Everyone was optimistic and positive about the current path 
but also recognized that this is a difficult path and are 
really hoping to enlist the full support of the United States 
in this effort.
    One of the major issues on the agenda was the $700 million 
that has been pledged by the United States and I don't think 
I'd be telling you anything you didn't know if I didn't say 
there was some level of frustration in Khartoum about the fact 
that that money had not been clearly committed or identified.
    Could you give us an update today on the status of the 700 
million?
    Ms. Power. I can. We have a spending plan as an 
administration that will be forthcoming soon.
    Part of the challenge, understanding their impatience, is 
the fragility of the transition; but we are going from zero to 
60 in this relationship very, very quickly, just as they are 
attempting to go from dictatorship to democracy.
    So, we just want to make sure that we're faithful to the 
needs to prevent waste and even to say duplication is probably 
not right in this context but just making sure the money's 
going to be well spent and so what USAID is doing already is 
moving very aggressively on working to build capacity in 
various ministries.
    It sounds like you didn't hear much about that, moving very 
aggressively to meet the COVID-related humanitarian needs which 
are on top of the pre-existing needs, also knowing that the big 
question for any transitional democracy is does it deliver 
supporting on the social service, the kind of social safety net 
side of things, just that as they make these tough economic 
reforms that people don't feel the bite of that to the extent 
that they otherwise would, and so we are supporting programs in 
that domain.
    But in terms of some of that size, it has taken, I think, 
the administration sometime to pull that plan together. So, I 
hope to be in a position, I and my colleagues, to share it with 
you shortly.
    Senator Van Hollen. Okay. And I do want to be clear, they 
were very positive about, I think, $30 million for the Ministry 
of Justice programs.
    Ms. Power. It's more.
    Senator Van Hollen. No, and some of the other programs that 
are in place, but I think for the large balance of the 
commitment,----
    Ms. Power. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. Yes. If you could let us know as----
    Ms. Power. Yes. And again it's not going to all come at 
once, right. These are programs that are going to be run over a 
long period of time, but we really want to take advantage of 
the political will that is there, also strengthen civil society 
and its ability to be able to continue to hold these 
institutions accountable as we build capacity.
    Thank you, though.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Senator Van Hollen. It was 
wonderful traveling with you to Sudan and the UAE and the 
issues you've just raised are ones I've also raised with the 
Administrator and I join Senator Van Hollen in expressing an 
eagerness and enthusiasm for seeing that plan soon.
    The new USAID Mission Director for Sudan was just arriving 
as we got there, someone I've met in two other countries 
previously, very seasoned and very capable, and my real hope is 
that we'll see that plan and it'll move forward quickly because 
this is a fragile transition to democracy.
    In terms of aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, 
one specific program I wanted to draw your attention to is the 
Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act. I worked 
with Senator Graham and others on that in the last Congress. It 
authorizes $250 million over 5 years to fund people to people 
programs between Palestinians and Israelis and to facilitate 
joint economic ventures.
    I wondered if you could briefly mention to us what the 
status is of the implementation of this program.
    Ms. Power. Thank you. Well, I'm very excited about this 
program because I think, as the recent conflict is just the 
latest reminder of the more we can do to strengthen people to 
people ties and to foster reconciliation the better.
    I believe, and again I'm relatively new to my job, just a 
few weeks in, but I believe that there's some administrative 
steps that just have to be taken in terms of creating an 
advisory council, but we are already looking to see again how 
that money that this subcommittee has generously appropriated, 
how that money will be spent and how we can expand those 
programs cross line and just to ensure again that the 
polarization that persists and widens, including with 
misinformation but also as a result of such traumatic 
experiences, like those that people have just gone through, 
that those are followed at least by programs where people get 
to see their shared humanity and I think that's what 
Congresswoman Lowey had in mind.
    Senator Coons. Indeed. One of the challenges of the 
pandemic, as you referenced, is that we've gone backwards in 
terms of development progress in dozens and dozens of 
countries. Countries that were already struggling with weak 
governance, food insecurity, conflict, and human displacement 
are now more fragile.
    One of the bills that I worked on with Senator Graham in 
the last Congress that's now law is the Global Fragility Act. 
It was actually passed December 2019. That is a tool to 
reorient our U.S. Government approach to addressing the drivers 
of violence and extremism with development and diplomacy in the 
lead and defense in a supportive role. Congress has already 
appropriated $360 million for implementation.
    I'm looking for an updated list of target countries and 
regions for this strategy which essentially takes our success 
over several administrations and over more than a decade with 
Plan Colombia and tries to take that sort of coordinated 
development and diplomacy first sustained partnership approach.
    I do think it's a great tool to advance some of this 
administration's big picture goals: post pandemic 
stabilization, combating climate change and bolstering climate 
resilience, and promoting good governance.
    Do you have a sense for me on the timeline for which we 
might see the final determinations for this year?
    Ms. Power. I can't be specific, but I will say that I know 
that we are very close to finalizing the list. I will also say 
that our missions around the world are ready to go when that 
list is finalized, and I think there's, you know, as we've 
talked about in the past, a desire to ensure some global 
diversity in that, but, of course, above all to make sure that 
we're advancing the objectives of the bill that you have 
shepherded through to passage.
    So, I hope to get back to you soon.
    Senator Coons. I look forward to that.
    One of the main challenges facing our world that you 
identified and that I spoke about at the outset is climate, the 
change in our climate or, as Senator Whitehouse calls it, 
``climate weirdness,'' ways in which we've seen the climate 
change all over the world.
    I'll never forget a trip with Tim Rieser and Chairman Leahy 
to Colombia where we got to see the direct impact on the Kogi 
peoples who live in the mountains just above the Santa Marta 
Mountains just close to the Caribbean coast in the North 
shoulder of Colombia.
    USAID has long had critical programs that promote and 
protect biodiversity, protect things like tropical forests, and 
promote renewable uses of energy. There's lots of success 
stories, but I think the overall global picture is somewhat 
ominous.
    How do you anticipate USAID being able to help countries 
reduce emissions and adapt to rising temperatures? Are there 
specific countries or priority subject areas where you would 
like to see some of the increased investment in USAID focused?
    Ms. Power. I'd say a few things. I mean, because of the 
damage that climate change is already doing to so many of our 
partners internationally, an enormous area of focus by 
definition is adaptation and I think you'll see in the 
discretionary budget request a desire to really scale the 
investments we make in adaptation, but analogous to COVID, 
which we hope will be time-bounded, unlike climate change, 
climate change is touching absolutely every single part of what 
USAID does around the world.
    And so, as you know, some of the most important adaptation 
work will go on in the area of food security and in the area of 
taking the innovation and the insights of scientists and the 
insights of farmers who are struggling themselves in this 
country with drought or with flooding, for that matter, and 
just making sure our missions are very--this gets back to being 
nimble, but able to take those insights and embed them in 
programming very swiftly.
    As our knowledge improves and as actual innovation occurs 
that actually allows us to mitigate some of the damage of this 
spike in temperature. So, I think that's part of it and I think 
the part I'm emphasizing.
    Then, of course, we have plans to accelerate the transition 
to net zero emissions I think in at least 20 partner countries 
and I can get you the names of those countries if you want 
them. I don't have them offhand.
    Alongside this, though, we have programs in reforestation, 
you know, reforesting 20 million hectares by 2025. I think 
what's really important about Secretary Kerry being in the role 
that he is as the Special Envoy for Climate is that he's also 
traveling the world and using our diplomatic might along with 
Secretary Blinken and, of course, President Biden himself, but 
to ensure that at the highest levels of governments the signals 
are sent throughout that curbing emissions is not optional for 
any of us.
    So again, I just put the sort of three dimensions of it is 
mainstreaming the set of concerns through all our programming 
and making our programming more resilient. Our democracy 
programming, you know, we're supporting civil society actors 
that are climate and environmental activists.
    As just one additional example, there's adaptation and how 
can we ensure that hurricanes do less damage to communities and 
then there's transition to clean energy of the kind that we're 
undertaking here domestically and that we seek to partner with 
other countries to accelerate internationally.
    Senator Coons. Two last points, if I might. First, I'm 
hoping that we will have conversations about diversifying some 
of the partners that USAID has had over time.
    Within Delaware, there's the University of Delaware and 
Delaware State that have real expertise in contagious disease 
threat and crop resiliency work. There are obviously 
universities in many States across this country that bring 
great skills to the fore.
    In the decade I've served on Foreign Relations and the 
years I've served here on Appropriations, I've had the 
opportunity in different countries to see the lasting impact of 
programs that Chairman Leahy championed, including the War 
Victims Fund and demining efforts.
    I've had the joy of sitting down with African dictators and 
having to deliver the news to them that because of Leahy Law 
vetting some of their prize military units were no longer going 
to be able to work with the U.S. Government, which is a moment, 
a clarifying conversation in some cases.
    I look forward to carrying forward these and other 
priorities of the Full Committee Chairman.
    The Development Finance Corporation has done two things 
recently that I think are really encouraging. In Ethiopia, 
there was a telecom bid and the Chinese competed. However, the 
alliance of essentially Western-oriented providers, open 
society providers, won, in no small part because the DFC put 
$500 million into the deal.
    The ability to ramp up vaccine production, including with 
Aspen in South Africa, has in no small part been facilitated by 
DFC engagement.
    I want to make sure that it remains the Development Finance 
Corporation and that USAID doesn't just have a seat at the 
table but helps really drive it and that there is a real 
relationship between the field staff around the world who know 
the development needs of our partners in other countries and 
this powerful new tool. So, I look forward to working with you 
on that.
    My last question to you would be one of the goals that 
those of us who worked on the BUILD Act had, which was that we 
would coordinate with our development partners around the 
world, including with the South Koreans, the Japanese, the 
Nordic countries, the EU, and the U.K., although they are now 
diminishing in some ways their development roles, but other 
countries that have DFCs.
    What's your view of our potential to actually demonstrate 
to the developing world, what more transparent, better finance, 
that has better labor standards and better environmental 
standards is as a development alternative to some of our 
competitors who are offering, I would argue, debt-trapped 
diplomacy and lower standards. How do you see the challenges of 
actually coordinating with some of our allies around the world 
as we seek to provide financing opportunities for things like 
cleaner energy solutions or better infrastructure solutions for 
the developing world?
    Ms. Power. Well, that's a complex question or a question 
with a complex answer, I suppose, but in brief, first, let me 
say a word about our British friends because I do want to 
mention that they have stated their intention to get their 
funding back up as soon as possible and so we're hopeful that 
this is a hit to global financing for humanitarian development 
assistance that will be short term and, of course, they are 
still pursuing important priorities in education, gender, and 
global health. So, I did want to get that on the record, given 
their strong commitment over such a long period of time.
    As it relates to other development partners, one of the 
enjoyable parts of my job up to this point, short-termer though 
I have been so far, has been reaching out to my development 
ministerial counterparts around the world. Also, there are 
people running development ministries I haven't yet had a 
chance to talk to who are newcomers to this field.
    For example, the Israeli Government, we have just, a couple 
years ago, signed an MOU with the Government of Israel on 
development cooperation and I read, as I prepared for this 
hearing, about one of the fruits of that partnership in 
Guatemala where the Israeli Government has just shared with 
those farmers who are most vulnerable to the changing climate, 
rainwater catchments, if I have the technical term, 46 of them. 
There was a big ceremony where the Israeli Ambassador and the 
American Ambassador to, I believe it was, Guatemala 
participated in that.
    That's just a small inroad there, but you can imagine, 
given Israel's own experience in the climate that it inhabits, 
how much it has to offer in the realm of innovation 
development, development finance, and drought-resistant crops 
and the like, but there's lots to be done there.
    In the recent bilateral meeting between President Biden and 
the President of Korea, there was also mention of the need to 
move out cooperatively with those two ministries, our two 
ministries, the USAID and Korea's Aid Ministry working together 
to think up projects about what we can do together.
    You've seen some of the Gulf States getting much more 
involved in terms of humanitarian assistance and development 
assistance. I think more communication, more collaboration on 
the front end could be really interesting as to where a 
partnership, for example, with the Emiratis' or others may go.
    So, there's a lot of leverage there if we pool our 
resources to try to secure the kinds of policy changes we're 
looking for and there's potentially a lot of assistance.
    Last point I'd make, as I know it's so close to your heart 
because of all you've done to get the BUILD Act passed and to 
get the Development Finance Corporation in place and especially 
given your mention of the telecom deal in Ethiopia, is that 
USAID has a lot of comparative advantages.
    The U.S. approach to development is one that is much more 
attractive to communities around the world. Just the fact that 
we want these countries to be self-reliant rather than to be 
indebted to us, that we believe in accountable governance and 
the Rule of Law. Whatever a particular government leader is 
doing, somewhere in their mind, even if they're backsliding, 
they are aware that the private sector runs away from the kind 
of lawlessness and impunity that unfortunately appears to be 
ascendant in certain countries.
    So, the fact that the DFC is there bringing finance to bear 
and creating the specter of private sector investment, which is 
what countries want. If they had to choose between humanitarian 
assistance and private sector investment, it's not a choice.
    So I just want to underscore to you that in my time at 
USAID working with DFC, building out our own ability to partner 
with the private sector as I've described, even in emergencies 
like that in India and South Asia right now, I think there's 
far more we can do to build out these sources of financing and 
I really think it meets people where they are around the world.
    Senator Coons. Well, thank you, Administrator Power. I know 
we've kept you quite a long time. I could literally keep 
talking with you about this for hours, and I look forward to 
doing so as you get further grounded in the agency and 
leadership and connected to your partners around the world and 
as we get more details about the President's budget.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    There are a number of Members who wanted to participate but 
were engaged in other hearings that we're having at the same 
time. So, for that reason, we'll leave the hearing record open 
until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1st, for the submission of 
written requests either for Administrator Power or for written 
testimony from the USAID Office of the Inspector General.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the Agency for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
               Questions Submitted to Hon. Samantha Power
            Questions Submitted by Senator Christopher Coons
    Question. In addition to your global responsibilities, we have 
discussed the important role you have in demonstrating how our 
investments in international development benefit the American people. 
Two major universities in Delaware, DSU and UD, have tremendous 
expertise in issues like crop resilience and contagious disease 
threats.
    Will you work to bring more U.S. and local institutions into the 
fold by diversifying USAID partnerships, including with American 
universities?

    Answer. USAID values the unparalleled research capacity the U.S. 
universities bring to our food security, nutrition, and resilience 
efforts through the Feed the Future Innovation Labs. There are 
currently 20 Innovation Labs supported by over 70 U.S. colleges and 
universities, which include 15 Minority Serving Institutions, in 36 
States plus the District of Columbia. We anticipate awarding three new 
Innovation Labs by the end of fiscal year 2021 which will provide 
additional opportunities for university partnerships.
    These university-led agricultural research programs partner with 
developing country researchers, the private sector, industry, and 
others to address current and future challenges posed by climate change 
and the need to feed a growing global population with safe and 
nutritious food. At the same time, the Innovation Labs are committed to 
training the next generation of scientists who can research and develop 
solutions to their own country's food security challenges.
    USAID's U.S. university investments also benefit America's farmers 
and ranchers, who are essential to national, economic, and food 
security, both at home and abroad.

  --For example, in Michigan, the largest bean producing State, our 
        university partners developed a high yielding, disease 
        resistant black bean variety. The increased value to growers is 
        estimated at $10 million per year.
  --And USAID's University-based research to combat a sorghum pest has 
        saved the industry an estimated $760 million and brought an 
        additional $360 million to the U.S. economy.

    The University of Delaware has been a collaborator on the Genomics 
to Improve Poultry Innovation Lab since 2014. The lead researcher, Dr. 
Carl Schmidt, is identifying genes and genetic markers associated with 
Newcastle disease resistance in three unique chicken populations in the 
U.S. This highly infectious and deadly viral disease cost California 
over $180 million in Federal funds to eradicate an outbreak in 2002-
2003.
    USAID recognizes the importance of diversifying our partnership 
base. In October of 2020, the Agency launched a 2-year pilot program, 
the Minority Serving Institution (MSI) Partnership Initiative, to forge 
new partnerships and increase substantive linkages between USAID and 
communities that have been traditionally under-represented in foreign 
affairs. This program will result in Memoranda of Understandings 
between USAID and MSIs to include Delaware State University, across 
various technical sectors including food security, conflict 
stabilization and others to be determined.
    Lastly, USAID's university-led programs recognize the value of 
partnering with the private sector to ensure that their innovations are 
designed to meet market needs. These include Birdsong Peanuts; the 
National Sorghum Producers; Corteva Agriscience, the Michigan Bean 
Commission; The Kroger Company; and Mars, Inc. The private sector is 
also a partner in the development and/or delivery of Innovation Lab 
innovations. Current partnerships include:

  --HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology in Alabama is assisting the 
        Peanut Innovation Lab to genetically map groundnut (peanut) 
        rosette virus resistance.
  --aWhere in Colorado is providing weather data to support gene-
        environment interaction analysis for the Soybean Innovation 
        Lab's Pan-African soybean variety trial program.
  --Tillers International in Michigan is working with the Sustainable 
        Intensification Innovation Lab to sustainably intensify 
        smallholder farmers' cropping systems and on-farm operations 
        through appropriate mechanization in Burkina Faso.
  --Meridian Biotech in Texas is working with the Fish Innovation Lab 
        on replacing fishmeal with single cell proteins in tilapia 
        production in Zambia.
  --WorldCover in New York is working with the Markets, Risk and 
        Resilience Innovation Lab to promote resilient agricultural 
        growth with area revenue index insurance in Ghana.

    Question. The pandemic has made the world more fragile as it has 
exposed and exacerbated challenges like weak governance, food security, 
conflict, and displacement. Senator Graham and I worked with a number 
of Members on this subcommittee to pass the Global Fragility Act in 
December 2019. To date, Congress has appropriated $360 million for the 
implementation of this legislation. I hope you see this tool as one way 
to advance the administration's big picture goals of post-pandemic 
stabilization and recovery, bolstering climate resilience, and 
promoting good governance.
    When can we expect target countries and regions for the strategy to 
be announced?

    Answer. I agree that the Global Fragility Act provides the U.S. 
Government an opportunity to further transform the way diplomatic, 
development and defense agencies collaborate to address the root causes 
of violence and instability.
    In March, the NSC launched a review of the 2020 Global Fragility 
Strategy (``U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability'') 
to ensure the Strategy aligns with Biden administration priorities to 
support U.S. partner nations coping with challenges intensified by the 
confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic crisis, and 
climate change to avert and manage violent conflict. Building on the 
robust analytical work undertaken by the interagency, the NSC convened 
3 workshops with experts and the interagency; reevaluated the key 
indicators of fragility informing the development of a short list of 
potential countries to select; and agreed on an interagency process to 
select at least 5 countries or regions in this first round. In 
addition, USAID has drafted an introductory framework that--in addition 
to presenting a view of ``fragility'' that acknowledges that 
vulnerabilities exist globally and are not limited to one continent or 
region--outlines how the additions of gender and climate will impact 
the interagency work going forward.
    The NSC is continuing intensive consultation with Departments and 
Agencies in order to reach consensus on what countries/regions will be 
selected for Strategy implementation.

    Question. We all watched the devastating violence in the Middle 
East that came to a head last week. I appreciate the Biden 
administration's efforts to broker a ceasefire. As we make sure Israel, 
like any country, maintains the right to defend itself, the House and 
Senate SFOPS subcommittees want to work with you to ensure the swift 
delivery of humanitarian aid to support the Palestinian people. It is 
critical that we rebuild our relations with the Palestinians, and that 
we redouble efforts to restore confidence-building measures and begin 
to cultivate trust between Israeli and Palestinian communities.
    Understanding that the situation is fluid, how are you planning to 
approach this challenge, and what types of USAID assistance do you see 
being the most necessary to help the Palestinians?

    Answer. After the absence of U.S. assistance and engagement with 
Palestinians over the last few years, USAID is prioritizing 
opportunities to engage directly with Palestinian people to rebuild 
relationships and regain confidence in the USG as a trusted partner. As 
part of the Biden administration's commitment to restore funding to the 
Palestinian people, on March 25, 2021, the U.S. announced the 
resumption of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people with 
$15 million to address the COVID-19 pandemic and food insecurity in the 
West Bank and Gaza. In response to the recent violence, USAID is also 
providing an additional $5.5 million in emergency health, protection, 
and multi-purpose cash assistance in Gaza.
    In addition to humanitarian assistance, working with Congress, 
USAID intends to provide $75 million in development and economic 
assistance over the next year that will support relief and recovery in 
the West Bank and Gaza. This funding will advance private sector growth 
and economic recovery, re-engagement with Palestinian civil society, 
and access to basic needs and services, such as healthcare.
    USAID is also, along with the State Department and the 
International Development Finance Corporation, currently developing 
implementation plans for advancing the goals of the Middle East 
Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA). USAID will be leading on 
implementation of the MEPPA People-to-People Partnership for Peace 
Fund, which will provide funding to qualified organizations that help 
build the foundation for peaceful co-existence between Israelis and 
Palestinians and for a sustainable two-state solution. This will 
complement the DFC's Joint Investment for Peace Initiative and its 
efforts to develop the Palestinian private sector. While MEPPA and 
USAID's ongoing reconciliation work will not focus on Gaza recovery, 
both include a focus on building people-to-people relationships, which 
over time works to lessen tension and violence. It is this type of work 
that begins to build confidence between communities and cultivates the 
trust necessary to build the constituency for peace.
    I want to assure you that, as we do around the world, the United 
States is providing this aid to the Palestinian people of the West Bank 
and Gaza through experienced and trusted independent partners on the 
ground, who distribute this emergency assistance directly to people in 
need, not through government or 'de facto' government authorities. Our 
humanitarian partners in the West Bank and Gaza have aggressive risk-
mitigation systems in place that help us ensure U.S. taxpayer-funded 
humanitarian assistance is reaching those for whom we intend it--the 
women, children, and men most in need of life-saving assistance. And as 
part of our risk-management approach in the West Bank and Gaza, USAID 
implements a robust vetting process to prevent USAID's funds and 
resources from inadvertently supporting individuals or entities that 
are terrorists, support terrorists, or are affiliated with terrorists.
                                 ______
                                 
               Questions Submitted to Hon. Samantha Power
              Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick Leahy
    Question. Given the terrible COVID-19 outbreak in India and the 
consequences this is already having on neighboring countries including 
Nepal, what is being done to help Nepal, and are you looking at ways to 
increase vaccine access?

    Answer. Through USAID, the U.S. Government is delivering on our 
promise to stand with the people of Nepal as they fight a devastating 
second wave of COVID-19. The U.S. Government has mobilized over $50 
million in assistance since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to 
combat the crisis in Nepal. Of this amount, USAID has programmed $30 
million for commodities and technical assistance over the course of a 
year. On May 20, 2021, USAID mobilized the first of numerous planned 
emergency COVID-19 assistance flights to Nepal. At the request of the 
Government of Nepal (GoN), USAID provided these urgently needed 
supplies to the Ministry of Health and Population to ensure that they 
reach healthcare facilities across the country as fast as possible.
    USAID's COVID-19 assistance to Nepal has reached more than 60 
percent of the population. This includes working alongside other donors 
to support the World Health Organization (WHO) in expanding Nepal's 
COVID-19-testing lab network from a single lab to 87 to ensure 
nationwide coverage. USAID has also provided Nepal with more than 
786,000 pieces of essential equipment, including COVID-19 testing 
equipment, oxygen cylinders, pulse oximeters, PPE for healthcare 
workers, disinfection supplies, thermometers, arterial blood gas 
machines, and other life-saving medical equipment.
    The United States has stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of 
Nepal for more than 70 years. Today, as one of the largest health 
sector donors, USAID has a strong and collaborative partnership with 
the GoN to save lives and improve the quality of life of all Nepalis 
through equitable and well-governed health systems. Our decades of 
shared progress better position Nepal to fight the global health 
challenges of today, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The rapid spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated that no nation can 
act alone against a global pandemic. We must vaccinate as many people 
as possible, as quickly as possible. In partnership with the global 
community, USAID is accelerating global access to COVID-19 vaccines. 
The U.S. is the single largest donor to COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccine 
Global Access initiative. To date, our support represents nearly half 
of the commitments to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which 
pools demand and funding to help low- and lower-middle income countries 
access COVID-19 vaccines.
    Thanks to bipartisan congressional support, the U.S. has 
contributed $2 billion to COVAX to support the purchase and delivery of 
COVID-19 vaccines to 92 low- and middle-income countries. This 
contribution will support safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the 
world's most vulnerable and at-risk populations, including frontline 
healthcare workers. In March 2021, COVAX delivered the first shipment 
of 348,000 SII-AstraZeneca (COVISHIELD) vaccines to Nepal. COVAX has 
allocated 1,920,000 vaccine doses for Nepal.

    Question. After a year of relative success in controlling the 
spread of COVID-19, Vietnam is experiencing a significant outbreak. 
What can be done to expedite vaccines to Vietnam, a country of 90 
million people?

    Answer. USAID has built upon our long-standing cooperation in the 
health sector to strengthen Vietnam's capacity to respond to the COVID-
19 pandemic. The United States has contributed over $13 million and 100 
ventilators to help Vietnam in its fight against COVID-19, including in 
the areas of surveillance, laboratory system strengthening, biosafety/
biosecurity, emergency management and operations, workforce development 
and training, zoonotic diseases, infection prevention and control, and 
risk communication and community engagement.
    The rapid spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated that no nation can 
act alone against a global pandemic. We must vaccinate as many people 
as possible, as quickly as possible. In partnership with the global 
community, USAID is accelerating global access to COVID-19 vaccines. 
The U.S. is the single largest donor to COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccine 
Global Access initiative. To date, USG support represents nearly half 
of the commitments to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which 
pools demand and funding to help low- and lower-middle income countries 
access COVID-19 vaccines. Both USAID and Embassy Hanoi have received 
requests from the Government of Vietnam (GVN) for vaccines and vaccine 
assistance, and we are coordinating to ensure that the GVN's requests 
are fully considered in future vaccine distributions. To date, Vietnam 
has received 2,493,000 vaccine doses through COVAX.
    As of late May, USAID has also planned that the first tranche of 
American Rescue Plan Act funds will include funds for COVID-19 support 
to Vietnam, which will also support vaccine readiness. The timeline for 
those funds is still changing, but Vietnam remains a priority because 
of the surging cases.

    Question. Funding for climate change must be a key priority going 
forward after 4 years of denial by the previous White House. There is 
so much that USAID is being called upon to do, but if we don't stop 
global warming the challenges USAID is facing today will be minor 
compared to what lies ahead.
    Are you looking at ways to reorient your budget to prioritize 
climate change programs? If so, how?

    Answer. Yes, USAID has committed to developing a new Climate 
Strategy to be released in November 2021. The new Climate Strategy will 
guide USAID's efforts to target climate change resources strategically, 
ramp up climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, and further 
integrate climate change considerations into international development 
and humanitarian assistance programs across all sectors. Our 
forthcoming strategy and programming decisions are also informed by 
USAID's extensive field presence and deep in-country networks, allowing 
the Agency to align resources to the most effective solutions on the 
ground. We are also involving all bureaus and inviting all missions to 
contribute to shaping the new strategy; we have a de facto task force 
of USAID technical staff contributing to it, and a newly established 
Climate Change Leadership Council guiding its development.
    We are also working closely with the interagency on an fiscal year 
2023 budget request that supports the United States' recommitment to 
fighting climate change by increasing investments in adaptation and 
resilience, renewable energy, and sustainable landscapes.

    Question. Is USAID part of a whole-of-government climate change 
strategy and if so, what does your piece of the strategy look like?

    Answer. Yes, USAID works closely with the interagency as part of a 
whole-of-government approach to climate change.
    In coordination with the interagency, USAID is developing a new 
Agency-wide climate strategy and a Climate Finance Action Plan to guide 
our efforts as an Agency, within the context of the broader U.S. 
Government-wide plans. USAID's new strategy will guide the Agency's 
efforts to target climate change resources strategically, ramp up 
climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, and further integrate 
climate change considerations into international development and 
humanitarian assistance programs across all sectors. USAID also plays a 
key role in other strategic frameworks, such as the first-ever U.S. 
International Climate Finance Plan.
    Under the new Global Climate Ambition Initiative, which was 
launched at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April, USAID and the State 
Department will co-lead efforts to support developing countries to 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the goals of the Paris Climate 
Agreement. USAID will also support developing countries to improve 
resilience to climate impacts and disasters, including by strengthening 
implementation of their National Adaptation Plans.
    USAID's bilateral climate programs and partnerships complement and 
enhance the efforts of other Agencies by leveraging our extensive field 
presence and trusted relationships with local government partners at 
all levels. For example, USAID has a long history of strong 
partnerships with the Department of Energy's National Laboratories. 
This allows USAID to leverage state-of-the-art science and technology 
in our long-term institutional capacity building and energy sector 
reform efforts with partner countries.

    Question. I strongly support the administration's decision to 
resume aid to the Palestinians. Cutting it off was foolhardy and self-
defeating, in my opinion, and I know many others share that view.
    What do you see as the way forward for USAID, especially given all 
the legal constraints Congress has imposed on getting aid to the 
Palestinian people? What can you do within those constraints, and what 
do you plan to do--especially in Gaza?

    Answer. With the funding that has been announced by Secretary 
Blinken and appropriated by Congress, USAID is working to address the 
clear humanitarian and development needs for the people of the West 
Bank and Gaza. For more than a decade, USAID's work in Gaza has 
primarily been with the United Nations (UN) and international NGOs in 
order to ensure that funds are provided directly to the Palestinian 
people. USAID is currently providing over $20 million in humanitarian 
assistance to support some of the most vulnerable communities in the 
West Bank and Gaza, including $5.5 million in emergency health, 
protection, and multi-purpose cash assistance in Gaza in response to 
the recent violence, as well as $15 million to support emergency food 
assistance and COVID-19 response in the West Bank and Gaza.
    Additionally, USAID is working with Congress on utilizing the $75 
million in fiscal year 20 ESF funds appropriated by Congress for 
programs that will focus on three main themes: economic recovery from 
COVID-19, meeting basic needs, and re-engaging Palestinian civil 
society. A portion of these funds will support the East Jerusalem 
Hospital Network and respond to the immediate needs of the recent 
humanitarian crisis in Gaza. For further Gaza efforts, USAID also plans 
to identify the most critical WASH infrastructure needs to coordinate 
and repair systems to restore access for thousands of Gazans.
    USAID is also working closely with the International Development 
Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Department of State to implement and 
advance the goals of the Nita M. Lowey Partnership for Peace Act 
(MEPPA). USAID will be leading on implementation of the MEPPA People-
to-People Partnership for Peace Fund, which will provide funding to 
qualified organizations that help build the foundation for peaceful co-
existence between Israelis and Palestinians and for a sustainable two-
state solution. This will complement the DFC's Joint Investment for 
Peace Initiative and its efforts to develop the Palestinian private 
sector. As implementation begins, MEPPA will work to reduce tension and 
the likelihood of violence over the long term.

    Question. Are there things you think USAID should do to help 
improve the lives of the Palestinians that would require action by 
Congress to make possible?

    Answer. USAID will continue to work with Congress to ensure that 
the Agency's efforts to support meaningful and sustainable development 
for the people of West Bank and Gaza support U.S. policy in the region. 
In light of the many development needs--particularly in the areas of 
WASH, broad economic development, and democracy, human rights, and 
governance--we appreciate the opportunity to continue to engage with 
Congress on how best to address them. If we identify development 
objectives that are consistent with U.S. Government policy that would 
require changes to existing U.S. law to realize, I would work with the 
interagency and with Congress on the appropriate way forward.

    Question. Afghanistan is on all of our minds and I want to 
understand what the military withdrawal means for our aid programs 
going forward.
    What activities do you think USAID can realistically continue 
supporting in Afghanistan, and what are your plans for trying to 
protect the gains for Afghan women and girls if, as seems likely, the 
Taliban continue to expand their control?

    Answer. The USAID Mission and its implementing partners are well 
experienced at delivering assistance effectively in the challenging 
Afghan security environment. However, we must be clear that while the 
U.S. will maintain its civilian assistance to Afghanistan to sustain 
and build upon the gains made in the last 20 years, USAID operations 
may become constrained depending on levels of violence and how the 
peace process unfolds. The safety and security of our partners is our 
primary concern.
    USAID is conducting scenario based planning that accounts for 
potential increased violence, pressure from non-government actors, and 
increased humanitarian need. The USAID Mission in Afghanistan will 
pivot development programming and adapt its humanitarian assistance as 
needed to respond to changes in access to increase basic service 
delivery, livelihoods, food security, and human rights, with special 
emphasis on protecting women and girls.
    USAID continues to support and advance the important social, 
economic and political gains made by Afghan women and girls over the 
last two decades. The Agency remains committed to standing with Afghan 
women and will continue to work closely with the Afghan government, 
private sector, and civil society organizations to robustly support 
constitutional protections and progress made, including in elevating 
women's voices in the peace process. In terms of humanitarian 
assistance, USAID humanitarian partners are prepared to stay and 
deliver life-saving assistance as long as they have safe access to do 
so and can adhere to the humanitarian principles of neutrality, 
impartiality, and independence. USAID humanitarian programs are 
designed to be flexible, and USAID is prepared to work with 
implementing partners and the humanitarian community in Afghanistan to 
assess needs, security conditions, and risk levels to determine if and 
how to adapt programming as needed. USAID recently announced $157.5 
million in new humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan. Humanitarian 
activities, including support for food assistance, nutrition, 
protection, shelter, livelihoods, and water and sanitation, target 
vulnerable populations in Afghanistan, including, but not limited to, 
women and children.

    Question. One of our long-term investments in Afghanistan is the 
American University in Afghanistan (AUAF), a coeducational institution 
with an American-style curriculum that is training Afghanistan's future 
leaders. Do you agree that we should help AUAF continue to operate, as 
long as the security conditions permit?

    Answer. Since its inception in 2005, USAID has provided AUAF over 
$150 million in direct funding. Additionally, USAID has invested 
significant resources in helping AUAF improve its financial management 
capacity and to address serious audit findings. On February 1, 2021, 
AUAF signed a new, conditions-based cooperative agreement with USAID, 
``Technical Capacity Building for the American University of 
Afghanistan''. This agreement uses third-party management and 
oversight, which allows the USG to support AUAF's progress on critical 
fiscal and operational reforms. Work is already underway to provide 
technical capacity building at the university. The success of this 
partnership is dependent upon AUAF's willingness to work in close and 
open collaboration with the third-party implementing partner and USAID 
oversight personnel to implement recommendations.
    USAID also is exploring options for an endowment to support higher 
education in Afghanistan in alignment with USAID competitive 
procurement processes. USAID is looking at various models, as the 
operating environment in Afghanistan and structures of endowments in 
the country are more complex than traditional endowments. USAID's 
initial estimates indicate that such an endowment would need a 
significantly higher principal investment to be large enough to 
generate necessary returns. As specific funding levels for this 
endowment were not included in fiscal year 2021 and prior legislation, 
USAID continues to explore options for an endowment that would be 
meaningful but also realistic amidst other funding commitments and the 
security environment.
    As is the case with all of USAID/Afghanistan's implementing 
partners, USAID's Partner Liaison Security Office communicates closely 
with AUAF's own Security Office on their ongoing security posture, both 
as a result of COVID-19 and the recent troop withdrawal announcement. 
The University's security was significantly scaled up and continues to 
be heavily reinforced, with the support of USAID funds, since notable 
security incidents occurred in 2016.

    Question. Haiti is unraveling and billions of dollars in U.S. and 
other donor aid have produced few sustainable results. There is talk of 
elections, but the conditions for elections don't exist.
    How has this crisis affected USAID's programs in Haiti, and how has 
it affected people in Haiti who depend on USAID's programs?

    Answer. The assassination of President Moise contributes to an 
already chaotic situation in Haiti resulting from a confluence of 
factors including a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, kidnapping 
levels reaching unprecedented epidemic proportions, rampant gang 
violence that has displaced more than 18,000 people and has interrupted 
critical supply chains (including oxygen for hospitals), and a 
shrinking economy. Haiti continues to be the only country in the 
Western Hemisphere to not have received any vaccines to date.
    Since 2019's country-wide protests known as ``peyi-lok'' or 
``locked country,'' which effectively shut down all business and 
schools in Haiti for 3 months, USAID has been able to mitigate a 
majority of the challenges caused by the current political/security 
crisis. USAID has shifted its programmatic approach to build the 
capacities of Haitians, households, communities, and systems to 
withstand various shocks and stressors, and broaden our programmatic 
reach to include non-traditional and local actors. As a result of this 
strategic adjustment, the current crisis is unlikely to prevent USAID 
activities from reaching their programmatic indicators and objectives. 
Due to rampant insecurity, USAID faces increased challenges with its 
ability to conduct in-person activity monitoring and the cost of 
programming has increased significantly due to security related costs 
and increased recruitment incentives.

    Question. Are you aware of a U.S. Government strategy to respond to 
the dire situation, and if so is USAID part of the strategy?

    Answer. USAID is fully integrated in interagency discussions on 
addressing the near and longer terms concerns in Haiti. USAID is 
promoting a multi-pronged approach to respond to the evolving situation 
on the ground in Haiti. First and foremost, our assistance tracks 
closely with the USG position that the Government of Haiti should 
administer credible, free, and fair elections as soon as technically 
feasible to end this period of presidential rule by decree and to 
restore Parliament. To this end, USAID has re-oriented its electoral 
assistance program to focus on critical pre-election activities. USAID 
is providing $3.3 million to the Consortium for Elections and Political 
Processes Strengthening, composed of the National Democratic Institute, 
the International Republican Institute, and the International 
Foundation for Electoral Systems, to support the upcoming presidential 
and legislative elections.
    USAID assistance does not support the constitutional referendum.

    Question. The U.S. Government has spent billions to help Colombia 
over the past 20 years, and USAID has been a big part of that. There 
have been significant accomplishments, but the country is deeply 
polarized and the situation is a far cry from what we had hoped for 
after the peace agreement was signed in 2016. I have long believed that 
a successful counterdrug strategy must focus on rural security and 
rural economic development, but after 20 years that approach exists 
more on paper than in practice. What is USAID doing to help make this a 
reality?

    Answer. U.S. assistance plays an important role in advancing Peace 
Accord implementation, particularly in the areas of rural development, 
ethnic and victims chapters.
    Specifically, across 22 USAID programs, the Agency has contributed 
over $125 million for the design and implementation of initiatives 
within the country's Development Programs with a Territorial Focus, or 
PDET territories as determined by the Colombian government.
    USAID addresses key challenges related to rural economic 
development like strengthening rural producer associations and value 
chains; increasing access to financial services; promoting equitable 
and secure land tenure. Land formalization is a cornerstone of USAID 
efforts to reduce conflict and implement peace. We support the 
Colombian government's land formalization and the substitution of 
illicit crops activities in this regard. For instance, USAID is testing 
the substitution of coca in over 13,000 hectares in exchange for land 
titles, the issuance of over 20,000 land titles through the 
formalization of land, the updating of the cadaster (land registries) 
in 10 municipalities and the titling of schools and health centers to 
trigger social investment and in creating 25 public private 
partnerships that will mobilize $170 million to provide licit economic 
opportunities. USAID has demonstrated that providing secure land title 
and citizen security to rural farmers in former coca growing regions 
greatly reduces recidivism (return to coca production).
    Collaborating closely with the State Department, USAID will improve 
rural security by fostering proven citizen-responsive security systems 
and the continued building of rural community protections. Our efforts 
are also focused on citizens' and communities' building productive 
relationships with the police and other state actors. Another key focus 
is on Afro-Colombian and Indigenous youth resilience to violence, 
prevention and recruitment and increasing access for all citizens to 
the Colombian justice system and other human rights protections. 
Specifically, at-risk youth that includes former youth offenders; 
disengaged child soldiers, and youth at risk of forced recruitment by 
illegal armed groups. In summary, our programs seek to create 
alternatives that will allow individuals to live and work in safe, 
productive, healthy environments and become engaged participants in the 
Colombian society.
    USAID supports the Government of Colombia and civil society to 
increase access to justice in violence-affected areas. In 45 
municipalities, USAID strengthens Local Justice Systems to provide a 
variety of justice services, ranging from mediation to legal 
orientation on gender-based violence. USAID-supported mobile justice 
brigades have served 20, 260 citizens in the past 3 years (around 68 
percent women). USAID also focuses on justice for victims of Colombia's 
conflict. USAID supports all three entities within the truth, justice, 
and non-repetition system created by the Peace Accord--the Truth 
Commission, Search for Missing Persons Unit, and the Transitional 
Justice Court. This body will investigate, gather evidence and formally 
bring charges and recommended sentences against former FARC members. 
Lastly, this entity will ensure full participation of all individuals 
victimized by the long-running conflict and will promote justice, 
reconciliation and healing.
    USAID's human rights programming also aims to improve rural 
security. It focuses on prevention, protection, and response to human 
rights violations, particularly attacks against social leaders, who 
have an essential role to play in building a just and durable peace in 
Colombia. Among other things, USAID strengthens the National Protection 
Unit's individual and collective protection systems, the Ombudsman's 
Early Warning System, and sub-national protection and prevention 
systems.
    In 2020, following a GAO recommendation, State/INL commissioned a 
report from the RAND Corporation. That report called for a more 
balanced, more holistic approach to U.S. Government counterdrug 
assistance in Colombia, with greater emphasis on the development 
aspects and indicators. The inter-agency is working to implement those 
recommendations with new indicators and integrated programs. Further, 
USAID is now pushing for a Colombian whole-of-government approach to 
peace and counternarcotic in rural areas. USAID anticipates there will 
be a high-level meeting of the Presidents, probably later this calendar 
year, as a capstone to that negotiation.

    Question. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated the global 
hunger crisis, which was already on the rise due to an increase in 
conflict and climate-related shocks. The World Food Program estimates a 
record 235 million people will need food aid this year--an increase of 
nearly 40 percent from 2020. In addition to food aid provided by USAID, 
the development assistance provided by the U.S. Government's Feed the 
Future Initiative and Food for Peace program are also critical for 
global food security and nutrition.

  --I understand USAID is currently updating its Global Food Security 
        Strategy (GFSS). What types of revisions can we expect? How is 
        USAID planning to incorporate climate change adaptation into 
        the strategy?
  --Is USAID considering expanding the number of Feed the Future target 
        countries?

    Answer. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is 
leading an interagency effort to refresh and extend the multiyear 
strategy, which guides the U.S. Government's Feed the Future 
initiative, taking into account the evidence and lessons learned from 
the last 4 years of implementation. The refreshed GFSS will also 
account for the forces reshaping our global context, including the 
COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, and climate change. Addressing the 
immediate and long-term impacts of climate change underpins the 
achievement of all GFSS objectives and the ability of people, systems, 
countries and communities to sustain development outcomes. The updated 
Strategy will support integration of climate risk management, 
mitigation, and adaptation measures into existing and new activities.
    In early October following the completion of the updated Strategy, 
USAID will lead the interagency in a data-driven process to revisit the 
current list of Feed the Future target countries. This process will use 
quantitative and qualitative data, aligned to the selection criteria in 
the Global Food Security Act, to balance ``level of need'' and 
``opportunity for impact.'' While USAID anticipates this process may 
result in an expansion of the current list of target countries; the 
process for making these determinations will be done close consultation 
with the interagency, congressional stakeholders and external partners 
and may result in different recommendations.

    Question. Billions of people lack access to safe drinking water, 
and the prospect of widespread drought due to climate change threatens 
to dramatically intensify this need. In fiscal year 2021, Congress 
provided $450 million for water supply and sanitation projects.
    How does USAID prioritize those funds? How are water and sanitation 
projects adapting to new and increased threats due to climate change?

    Answer. USAID prioritizes funds provided by Congress for water 
supply and sanitation according to the guidance in the Paul Simon Water 
for the World Act of 2014 (WftWA). Section Sec. 5(f)(1) requires 
prioritization of countries based on a defined set of metrics and 
criteria that target funds towards the geographies with the most severe 
water and sanitation needs as well as the greatest opportunities for 
impact. USAID conducts this analysis each year to directly inform the 
annual designation of Water for the World High Priority Countries. 
Water for the World High Priority Countries are the primary recipients 
of water and sanitation foreign assistance. Of note, most of the 
world's population without access to even basic water access live in 
the 18 Water for the World High Priority Countries that were most 
recently redesignated for fiscal year 2021: Democratic Republic of 
Congo; the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Federal Democratic 
Republics of Ethiopia and Nepal; the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan; 
the Republics of Ghana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, 
Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, South Sudan, and Uganda; and the 
United Republic of Tanzania. Thirteen of those countries are in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
    As of fiscal year 2021 USAID must consider how all funds for water 
supply and sanitation will tangibly support climate change adaptation 
or mitigation. USAID has issued updated funding and programming 
guidance to missions and provided examples of innovative WASH and 
climate programming along with ideas for indicators to measure results. 
Building from the Agency's required Climate Risk Management process, 
this includes elevating approaches that strengthen the climate 
resilience of water and sanitation services and/or improve water 
resources management for sustainable drinking water supplies to 
safeguard against climate related shocks and stresses (floods, 
droughts, sea level rise). For example, in the Philippines, USAID's 
Safe Water Project is helping to improve water-related disaster 
preparedness, increase the performance of water service providers, and 
protect and rehabilitate watersheds that supply water for municipal 
systems. By helping utilities and local authorities integrate climate 
considerations in water-system engineering designs, improve monitoring 
of watersheds to enhance flood and water supply forecasting, and 
bolstering financial planning for environmental shocks, this activity 
is addressing urgent water needs while supporting adaptation to new 
threats due to climate change. Additionally, USAID activities that 
program water and sanitation foreign assistance are working to minimize 
greenhouse gas emissions through innovative approaches, including the 
use of renewable energy for pumping drinking water.

    Question. How is USAID ensuring equity in providing access to water 
and sanitation for vulnerable people?

    Answer. The primary recipients of U.S. water and sanitation 
assistance are USAID's 18 Water for the World high-priority countries. 
The selection of these countries is conducted in a way that 
intentionally emphasizes those that face the most severe equity 
challenges and are home to the most vulnerable people. This ensures 
that access to water and sanitation is targeted to provide access to 
water and sanitation for vulnerable people. In fact, while only 18 
countries were designated in 2021, these countries were home to the 
majority of the world's population without even basic water access.
    Illustrative selection metrics that help target support to 
countries with maximum opportunity to impact vulnerable people include 
consideration of:

  --The number of people without access to basic water or sanitation in 
        the Needs Index, and prioritizing those countries with larger 
        unserved populations.
  --The existence of policies that specifically consider WASH services 
        for women, and prioritizing those countries that do not have 
        such policies to provide support.
  --The availability of WASH services in schools and healthcare 
        facilities, recognizing that the absence of these services 
        disproportionately negatively impacts women, and prioritizing 
        those countries where women are most impacted by the lack of 
        these services.

    These metrics, along with others used throughout the process, help 
ensure that support is targeted to the countries that are home to the 
most vulnerable populations. This process allows USAID to advance the 
Water for the World Act's guidance to ``provide sustainable access to 
clean water and sanitation for the world's most vulnerable 
populations.''
    In addition to prioritizing an equitable investment approach 
through the designation of Water for the World high-priority countries, 
USAID provides a suite of water and sanitation technical guidance 
materials for Missions and implementing partners to sharpen 
programming, which include, for example, the publically available 
Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in WASH technical brief, as well 
as guidance on how to engage people in vulnerable situations in water 
and sanitation governance activities, and the humanitarian-development 
nexus. These materials are used by Missions as they design, implement 
and monitor water and sanitation activities. For example, USAID's 
Indonesia Urban WASH PLUS (IUWASH PLUS) program is providing the 
government with technical assistance and support to roll out national 
Gender Responsive Budgeting (PPRG) in seven cities and districts, 
enabling improved tracking of water and sanitation funding that 
benefits women and girls. n In Ghana, USAID's support of locally 
produced, low-cost latrine upgrades has enabled increased access to 
sanitation for people with disabilities, the elderly, and others who 
have difficulty using pit latrines, while also providing sales- and 
installation-related employment opportunities for those who are 
traditionally underemployed, such as women and youth.

    Question. The last administration spent significant time 
reorganizing the Agency. You have spoken of the need to strengthen the 
Agency and invest in the workforce, and the budget request reflects 
additional Foreign Service and Civil Service positions. What additional 
steps do you plan to take to strengthen USAID's ability to respond to 
future crises, whether the next pandemic, famine, or another 
humanitarian catastrophe like Syria?

    Answer. Given the critical importance of development and 
humanitarian assistance in advancing U.S. interests around the world, 
USAID is revitalizing its workforce to advance the Agency's mission and 
national security priorities. USAID is investing in a diverse workforce 
and seeking to increase the size of our Civil Service and Foreign 
Service workforce. Increasing USAID's workforce expands and strengthens 
its presence, partnerships, and programs, including for humanitarian 
assistance, global health security, combating climate change, and 
mission critical support functions. While the Agency seeks to increase 
the career workforce as a percentage of its overall workforce, we must 
also improve non-career employment opportunities that have relied on 
program funds. Specifically, increasing the percentage of non-career 
employees with direct hire status will strengthen recruitment, 
retention, and equity across the workforce.
    Investing in our people also means expanding and strengthening 
professional development and learning opportunities while strengthening 
leadership skills. USAID must also build on the successes of its Staff 
Care employee assistance programs that support its employee's physical 
and mental well-being with services that promote well-being, work-life 
balance, and organizational resilience. Underpinning efforts to 
revitalize the workforce is our focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, 
and accessibility. I am committed to building a talented and diverse 
workforce that reflects our Nation and builds inclusive work 
environments. USAID is also building the Agency's comprehensive 
workforce planning capabilities that help make sure the Agency is 
posturing our workforce for the future.
    Some of the Agency's specialized efforts to strengthen USAID's 
ability to respond to future crises, including pandemics, famines, or 
humanitarian catastrophes include:

  --As part of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance's (BHA) 
        reorganization, the Agency developed a Bureau-wide 
        comprehensive workforce planning process to ensure that the 
        Bureau is appropriately staffed to maintain operational 
        readiness globally. This includes establishing a new Foreign 
        Service Officer Backstop for humanitarian assistance with clear 
        career opportunities that will increase the integration and 
        alignment of relief to development efforts in our overseas 
        Missions. With increased career workforce levels, USAID will 
        ensure that the new bureau's core positions are encumbered with 
        career employees (both Civil Service and Foreign Service). 
        USAID's staffing plan seeks to support up to eight Disaster 
        Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) in the field and 
        corresponding Response Management Teams (RMTs) in Washington 
        without sacrificing support to ongoing programming.
  --USAID is investing in employee skills and readiness to respond to 
        current and emerging humanitarian crises. Through an ongoing, 
        data-driven ``21st Century Response Project,'' USAID is 
        refining its Response Management System to more efficiently 
        support large-scale responses with different mission sets, 
        including long-term complex emergencies, transitional 
        humanitarian responses, infectious disease response, and 
        emergent crises such as rapid-onset natural disasters.
  --The pandemic highlights the importance of operational readiness 
        across the Agency. As a result, USAID has consolidated 
        structures, systems, and operations for any continuity or 
        emergency events. The Agency established the Critical 
        Coordination Structure (CCS) in the Bureau for Management to 
        reinforce the Agency's resilience and readiness, allowing the 
        workforce to rapidly and effectively carry out USAID's mission, 
        even under emergency conditions. For example, the CCS developed 
        the COVID-19 Workforce Safety Plan and Workplace Guidelines, 
        administered vaccinations for the mission-critical workforce, 
        and facilitated workforce reentry plans. CCS also helps 
        implement emergency preparedness procedures and policies at the 
        onset of an emergency, which reduces operational and workforce 
        disruptions.
                                 ______
                                 
                 Questions Submitted to Samantha Power
               Questions Submitted by Senator Dick Durbin
    Question. As we wind down military operations in Afghanistan, I 
remain gravely concerned about the cycle of violence and the future of 
the women of Afghanistan. I appreciate USAID's investments that have 
achieved significant gains in this area, but understand we will need to 
continue to sustain that as part of the future relationship between our 
countries. The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) has played a 
significant role in the advance of Afghan women in business, civil 
society and government. It also remains one of the few environments in 
the country where men and women can interact on an academic and social 
level, underscoring AUAF's commitment to promoting equality for all 
genders and mutual understanding between male and female students from 
provinces throughout Afghanistan. Over the past three fiscal years, 
Congress has provided robust long-term assistance for AUAF in the form 
of an endowment to secure its legacy. What are your plans to ensure 
AUAF has long-term support in the form of an endowment so that the 
Afghan women and men who study there are protected as we wind down 
military operations in Afghanistan?

    Answer. I wholeheartedly agree with the importance of maintaining 
the significant development gains made in Afghanistan over the past 20 
years and USAID is fully committed to continuing assistance programs to 
the maximum extent possible in the wake of the withdrawal of U.S. 
troops. This includes continued investments in the education sector. 
Since its inception in 2005, AUAF has received over $150 million in 
direct funding from USAID. Additionally, USAID has invested significant 
resources in helping AUAF improve its financial management capacity and 
to address serious audit findings. USAID is exploring options for an 
endowment to support higher education in Afghanistan in alignment with 
USAID competitive procurement processes. USAID is looking at various 
models, as the operating environment in Afghanistan and structures of 
endowments in the country are more complex than traditional endowments. 
USAID's initial estimates indicate that such an endowment would need a 
significantly higher principal investment to be large enough to 
generate necessary returns. As specific funding levels for this 
endowment were not included in fiscal year 2021 and prior legislation, 
USAID continues to explore options for an endowment that would be 
meaningful but also realistic amidst other funding commitments and the 
changing security environment in light of the US military retrograde.
    As is the case with all of USAID/Afghanistan's implementing 
partners, USAID's Partner Liaison Security Office communicates closely 
with AUAF's own Security Office on their ongoing security posture, both 
as a result of COVID-19 and the recent troop withdrawal announcement. 
The University's security was significantly scaled up and continues to 
be heavily reinforced, with the support of USAID funds.

    Question. We will also need to do more to support the many Afghans 
who helped the war and civilian development effort and now face threats 
to their lives. For example, recently the Chicago Sun Times featured an 
effort by Chicago-native Marine Major Thomas Schueman to help with one 
such Afghan interpreter who saved his life and many others.
    What are your plans to shore up investments in Afghanistan, when it 
comes to health, education, civil society, and women and girls 
empowerment, as well as to ensure Special Immigrant Visa assistance to 
those Afghans who risked their lives to help the US?

    Answer. I wholeheartedly agree with the importance of supporting 
Afghans who helped with the war and civilian development efforts and 
who now face threats to their lives. We are coordinating closely with 
the State Department which has the lead on Special Immigrant Visas on 
the civilian side.
    USAID intends to provide development assistance in Afghanistan to 
promote inclusive economic growth, support women's empowerment, fight 
corruption, enhance conflict resolution mechanisms, and bolster civil 
society and independent media. The troop withdrawal announcement does 
not change USAID's priorities. In particular, USAID remains committed 
to continuing support for Afghan women, children and minorities. USAID 
will continue activities that build the resilience of Afghan women, 
including support for women's access to education, economic and 
political participation, and building the capacity of women-focused 
civil society organizations to advocate about women's critical role in 
society. We appreciate congressional support and welcome continued 
collaboration.
    We fully recognize the security environment in Afghanistan may 
change. USAID provides assistance in insecure environments all over the 
world. We are actively planning for a number of scenarios in which we 
would continue to provide assistance to Afghanistan and implement 
conflict-sensitive approaches to reconciliation and development to 
protect the gains made to-date, and further strengthen essential 
services for Afghan citizens. Critical humanitarian assistance will 
continue to be provided to those most in need, especially for the most 
vulnerable.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Coons. And with that, this hearing is hereby 
adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 4:52 p.m., Wednesday, May 26, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]