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


 
  STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 
                            FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022

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

    The subcommittee met at 2:35 p.m., in room S-124, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Christopher A. Coons (Chairman) 
presiding.
    Present: Senators Coons, Leahy, Durbin, Shaheen, and 
Graham.

           UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT


           opening statement of senator christopher a. coons


    Senator Coons. I call this hearing of the Subcommittee on 
State and Foreign Operations and Related Programs to order.
    Good afternoon. The subcommittee is meeting today to review 
the fiscal year 2023 budget request for the United States 
Agency for International Development, and it is our honor to 
have Administrator Samantha Power before us. She is a champion 
for global development and democracy. She's engaged in critical 
efforts for America's leadership and our role in the world and 
is today, along with thousands of people who serve as part of 
USAID around the world, making big headway against a whole wide 
panoply of critical changes.
    So I am going to wait for a few minutes for the arrival of 
the Full Committee Chairman before making broader remarks, but 
I've just returned from Europe on a codel led by Chairman Leahy 
and was reminded of just how much of an impact he's had in his 
service as Chairman of this subcommittee and of now the Full 
Committee.
    Let me just briefly review the scope of challenges that we 
face. An unprovoked and unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine 
which is creating not only a vast refugee crisis into Central 
and Eastern Europe but also a hunger crisis, a humanitarian 
crisis across more than a dozen other countries, an ongoing 
global pandemic which, although many of us would like to be 
done with it, it is not done with us, and we continue to see 
variants emerge around the world and greater risk to our 
country and to many others, a warming climate and an increasing 
number and severity of climate shocks that affect vulnerable 
communities here and around the world, and a whole series of 
humanitarian crises that predate the pandemic and the Russian 
invasion of Ukraine.
    So countries from Ethiopia to Yemen, Afghanistan to Syria 
to Venezuela have domestic and regional challenges. We've seen 
democratic backsliding, the challenges of corruption and 
development, human rights, Rule of Law, all around the world, 
and as a backdrop to much of this, competition to the United 
States and our role in the world and our way of life from China 
and other authoritarian actors.
    But I'll say just by way of opening framing that I see 
these challenges as also being opportunities, opportunities to 
demonstrate American leadership, to recommit to advancing 
democracy and human rights in the world, to diversify our 
partnerships with other development partners in other 
countries, to increase locally-led development, and to work to 
make our aid more effective and responsive.
    I commend President Biden for proposing strong investments 
to address the challenges I just laid out and to seize 
opportunities this coming fiscal year for us to demonstrate our 
role in the world.
    I am concerned that our needs are far outweighing our 
ability to respond, given what has been the allocation to this 
subcommittee over the last couple of years.
    The President's budget request is 14 percent above the 
previous year-enacted level. That increase, just by way of 
comparison, in absolute terms would be just 1 percent of our 
total Defense budget, and I think it would be an important head 
start on meeting our actual needs to address these crises.
    The budget requests increase for humanitarian assistance, 
pandemic preparedness, climate adaptation and mitigation, 
democracy programs, and locally-led development.
    I look forward to discussing these and other elements of 
this budget request with you, Administrator.
    We also have to recognize the challenge of getting to a 
fiscal year 2023 SFOPS bill. If we are to fail and instead have 
a full year continuing resolution, U.S. foreign assistance 
would be on autopilot. We would fail in our challenge of making 
strategic updates and would not be delivering on good foreign 
policy and responsible budgeting.
    So I also think it's urgent we pass the COVID-19 
Supplemental for both domestic and foreign needs that was 
debated, considered, but not ultimately enacted. We continue to 
face the challenge of billions of unvaccinated people and in 
countries where the vaccination rate is below 10 percent and 
where we face the risk of possible new variants developing 
there.
    So the pandemic, climate change, the war in Ukraine, Madam 
Administrator, I very much look forward to your testimony 
today, and I'll hand this over to Senator Graham.


                  statement of senator lindsay graham


    Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Number 1, the increase in funding is something all of us 
should consider given the problems that we have in the world. 
USAID is a very valuable part of our national security 
strategy. I see it as part of our national security in another 
form.
    Your agency is present in some of the most dangerous places 
in the world. People working for you directly and USAID 
contractors put their lives at risk working overseas, and that 
is very much appreciated.
    We have some differences on family planning, climate 
change, mandatory spending, and the global pandemic but, 
generally speaking, the subcommittee with Senator Coons and 
Senator Leahy has been able to pound out, I think, a good 
budget and I hope we do so this time.
    The supplemental appropriations bill had $18.9 billion for 
assistance for Ukraine, $5.458 billion went to food and 
humanitarian assistance, and I'm very interested in hearing 
about how this money gets out the door and on the ground to 
people who need it as soon as possible, so that we can head off 
a lot of problems.
    One of the things I think is missing and not a particularly 
Republican-Democrat problem is: what is the strategy concerning 
the international affairs part of our budget and what is the 
role of the United States in the world? What do we get out of 
Ukraine? Why are we helping Ukraine but get out of Afghanistan? 
I'd like to help both.
    From the national security perspective, the international 
affairs budget is 1 percent of spending. Is it being 
coordinated in a fashion to get the best results when it comes 
to our national security?
    China, we all see China as a rising threat to democracy. 
What should we do in Asia? The U.S. International Development 
Finance Corporation (DFC), how does it interact with the USAID? 
Half of our problem in Asia is not showing up. The Solomon 
Islands is a good example of where China has filled a vacuum.
    So, you can count me in for spending more in this space if 
it's part of an overall plan and part of showing up in Africa 
and Asia and not through military uniforms as much as through 
economic assistance and entrepreneurial opportunities.
    The DFC is a good concept. The Millennium Challenge 
Corporation is a good concept. USAID. How do all these agencies 
work together to get an outcome?
    So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to trying to not only do a 
fiscal year 2023 budget, but to make sure that if we do another 
supplemental, the money's well spent. To the American people, 
the combination of wars and famine and climate change, you name 
it, has led to a historic number of people without food who are 
going to move to a place where there is food if somebody 
doesn't come in and find a way to keep them where they live. 
This $5 billion in supplemental funding is a generous 
allocation by the American people.
    I just want to let my colleagues on this Committee on both 
sides of the aisle know it's not enough. We'll be doing this 
again because I don't see anything getting better any time 
soon.
    So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I enjoy the Committee. I love 
the work we do, and it's one area in the Congress where I think 
we tend to come together, and I want to keep it that way.
    Senator Coons. Thank you.
    Madam Administrator.
    Ms. Power. Thank you so much, Chairman Coons, Ranking 
Member Graham, Senator Durbin, good to see you, incoming 
Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee.
    I am grateful above all for your leadership as Chair and 
Ranking, that of your teams. You know, you have an oversight 
role but honestly you have a brainstorming, a collaboration, a 
how do we stare at the puzzle and the predicament of a 
confluence of crises together and come up with tools that are 
fit for purpose in the here and now. I really feel like we are 
one team.
    I'm grateful for the chance to discuss the fiscal year 2023 
President's budget request for USAID, and I look forward to 
having the chance to wade into some of the issues that you've 
touched upon in your opening statements, but I think echoing a 
couple of the points that have been made, I'd like to just step 
back and try to frame the discussion ahead by starting with the 
idea that I think it is no overstatement that right now right 
here we are gathering at a juncture in our history at an 
inflection point.
    For 16 straight years we've seen the number of people 
living under democratic rule decline. The world is now less 
free and less peaceful than at any point since the end of the 
Cold War, and for several years, as we have seen vividly, 
graphically, horrifically in recent days in Ukraine, 
autocracies have grown increasingly brazen, claiming that they 
can get done for their people things with a speed and an 
efficiency that they claim democracies lack, taking advantage 
of our open systems also to meddle and that's true of countries 
with democratic environments all around the world.
    We see with what Putin is doing in Ukraine just how empty 
that rhetoric is, just how dark the road to and from autocracy 
is, Putin's brutal war on a peaceful neighbor in Ukraine, the 
People's Republic of China's campaign of genocide and crimes 
against humanity in Xinsheng.
    Now with autocracies on their back heel, now is the moment 
for the world's democracies to unite and to take a big step 
forward after so many years of losing ground.
    If the world's free nations with the United States in the 
lead are able to unite and catalyze the efforts of our allies, 
the private sector and our multilateral institutions, if we can 
marshal the resources necessary to help partner nations and 
freedom-loving, freedom-coveting populations, we have a chance 
to extend the reach of peace, prosperity, and human dignity to 
billions more people.
    This has been USAID's mission since its inception more than 
six decades ago and to reiterate, I am so truly grateful to you 
for your continued bipartisan support of our efforts to save 
lives, to strengthen economies, to prevent fragility and 
conflict, and to promote resilience to all of the shocks that 
we have been discussing already here today, as well as your 
support in helping bolster freedom and the cause of freedom 
around the world.
    USAID's work is a testament to the fact that America and 
the American people care about the plight of others, that we 
can competently accomplish mammoth goals that no other country 
can, and that the work we do abroad also matters to the 
American people here at home. It makes us safer. It makes us 
more prosperous. It engenders goodwill that strengthens 
alliances and global cooperation.
    Thanks to your past support, the U.S. has helped get more 
than a half a billion COVID-19 vaccines to people in a 115 
countries. We've led life-saving humanitarian and disaster 
responses in 68 countries, including Haiti, Ethiopia, and 
Ukraine, of course. We've helped enhance pathways for legal 
migration to the U.S. while working to strengthen worker 
protections, and we've assisted the relocation and resettlement 
of Afghan colleagues and refugees under the most dire of 
circumstances while pivoting our programming in Afghanistan to 
address ongoing food insecurity and public health needs and 
continuing to push to keep women and girls in school.
    We're also making strides to become a much more nimble 
agency at a time of immense demands that you've alluded to, 
shoring up a depleted workforce by welcoming new recruits and 
operating with greater flexibility, including some that you 
have afforded us in the recent appropriations cycle.
    The Biden-Harris Administration's fiscal year 2023 
discretionary request of $29.4 billion will build on these 
steps forward, giving us the ability to invest in the people 
and the systems to meet the world's most significant challenges 
so that the United States can seize this moment.
    Last week with bipartisan support you passed a nearly $40 
billion package for Ukraine that will provide vital assistance 
to our support of displaced peoples, to the country's recovery, 
and to the secondary effects on food, fuel, and fertilizer that 
we're witnessing as a result of the Russian Federation's 
belligerence.
    Your bipartisan support for a robust fiscal year 2023 top 
line for the State, Foreign Operations Senate bill will help us 
meet this moment and advance American interests and the 
critical foreign policy and development priorities before us.
    The challenges, of course, in Ukraine and beyond are 
significant. Putin's war has displaced more than 14 million 
people, including two-thirds of Ukraine's children. It has led 
to serious disruptions to global food, fuel, and fertilizer 
supplies around the world, further taxing an already 
overwhelmed international system.
    Up to 40 million additional people could be pushed into 
poverty and food insecurity in 2022 due to Putin's war.
    Two difficult years of the COVID-19 pandemic have set back 
development gains and despite the U.S. leadership in 
vaccinating the world, leadership which has accrued such 
benefit to the health of citizens in the countries in which we 
work but also indirect benefit to the American people, that job 
remains unfinished.
    Multibillion dollar climate shocks appear each year with 
more frequency and these challenges only compound suffering in 
places where there are already humanitarian crises, like 
Ethiopia, Syria, and Yemen. Yet as grave as these challenges 
are, I sincerely believe that this opportunity, this moment, 
this point of inflection provides us a huge opportunity to meet 
the moment and meet the needs to advance U.S. foreign policy 
objectives.
    By providing the resources necessary to seize this moment, 
the United States can galvanize commitments from our allies and 
our private sector partners. We can help reserve years of 
democratic decline and we can demonstrate to the world that 
democracies can deliver in a way that autocracies certainly 
cannot. With your support USAID will move aggressively to seize 
this opportunity.
    Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
    [The statement follows:]
           Prepared Statement of Administrator Samantha Power
    Thank you Chairman Coons, Ranking Member Graham, distinguished 
Members of the Subcommittee. I am grateful for the opportunity to 
discuss the fiscal year 2023 President's Budget Request for the U.S. 
Agency for International Development (USAID).
    It is no overstatement to say we gather at a profound juncture in 
history.
    For 16 straight years, we've seen the number of people living under 
democratic rule decline--the world is now less free and less peaceful 
than at any point since the Cold War. And for several years, 
autocracies have grown increasingly brazen on the world stage, claiming 
that they can get things done for the people with a speed and 
effectiveness that democracies cannot match.
    Today, we see just how empty that rhetoric is, and just how dark 
the road to autocracy can be. Vladimir Putin's brutal war on a peaceful 
neighbor in Ukraine has shown a callous disregard for human life, 
global stability, and the very idea of truth itself. The courage of the 
people of Ukraine and the stalwart support of the United States and our 
allies and partners has unified and inspired people around the world 
striving for peace, democracy, human rights and freedom. Meanwhile, the 
People's Republic of China continues its campaign of genocide and 
crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, forcibly detaining more than one 
million Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority 
groups.
    If the world's free nations, with the United States in the lead, 
are able to unite the efforts of our allies, the private sector, and 
our multilateral institutions, and marshal the resources necessary to 
help partner nations stand up to autocracies, manage the aftershocks of 
Putin's war against Ukraine, end the pandemic, fight climate change, 
prevent conflict and promote stability, and safeguard democratic 
reforms, we have a chance extend the reach of peace, prosperity, and 
human dignity to billions.
    This has been USAID's mission since its inception six decades ago, 
and I am immensely grateful to you for your continued bipartisan 
support of our efforts to save lives, strengthen economies, prevent 
fragility, promote resilience, and bolster freedom around the world. 
USAID's work is a demonstration to the world that America cares about 
the plight of others, and that we can competently accomplish mammoth 
goals that no other country can. But the work we do abroad also matters 
to Americans here at home--it makes us safer, more prosperous, 
engenders goodwill that strengthens alliances and global cooperation, 
and creates a better future for the generations to come. Your 
bipartisan support for a robust fiscal year 23 topline for the State 
Foreign Operations Senate bill will help us meet this moment and 
advance American interests and the critical foreign policy and 
development priorities before us.
    The Biden-Harris Administration's fiscal year 2023 request of $29.4 
billion fully funding foreign assistance that is partially implemented 
by USAID is a reflection of the critical importance of development and 
humanitarian assistance in advancing U.S. interests around the world. 
The fiscal year 2023 request also includes vital assistance to respond 
to the growing number of development priorities and global humanitarian 
crises. The request additionally includes $6.5 billion in mandatory 
funding for the State Department and USAID to make transformative 
investments in pandemic and other biological threat preparedness 
globally, including financing for the new pandemic preparedness and 
global health security fund being established this summer, with 
leadership by the Indonesian G20 presidency and other partners around 
the world.
    We know, though, that the mammoth needs around the world--from the 
COVID-19 pandemic's continued effects to multi-billion dollar climate 
shocks to a spike in global food, energy, and fertilizer prices due to 
the Russian Federation's belligerence--are far larger than any single 
nation's ability to meet them. The request will allow the United States 
to lead, and in leading, allow us to mobilize allies, organizations, 
and private sector partners to contribute more to the causes critical 
to our nation's interests.
    Thanks to your past support, the United States has helped get more 
than half a billion COVID-19 vaccines to people in 115 countries; led 
life-saving humanitarian and disaster responses in 68 countries, 
including Haiti, Ethiopia, and Ukraine; helped enhance pathways for 
legal migration to the U.S. while working to strengthen worker 
protections; and assisted the relocation and resettlement of Afghan 
colleagues and refugees under the most dire of circumstances, while 
pivoting our programming in Afghanistan to address ongoing food 
insecurity and public health needs, and continuing to push to keep 
women and girls in school.
    We are also making strides to become a much more nimble Agency at a 
time of immense demands, shoring up a depleted Agency by welcoming new 
recruits, and operating with greater flexibility. The fiscal year 2023 
Request will build on these steps forward, giving us the ability to 
invest in the people and systems to meet the world's most significant 
challenges so the United States can seize this moment in history.
Supporting the people of Ukraine and managing the global food crisis 
        stemming from the Kremlin's war of aggression
    As we enter the third month of the Russian Federation's full-scale 
war of aggression against Ukraine, the humanitarian situation has grown 
dire, especially in the country's east, even as Ukraine continues to 
put up stiff resistance on the battlefield. We are actively programming 
resources passed in the March 15th Ukraine Supplemental Act and seeking 
additional supplemental resources to continue supporting the people of 
Ukraine and address rising global food insecurity as they continue to 
defend their sovereignty and their country. These resources are 
critical to making sure that Russia's war against Ukraine is a 
strategic failure for the Kremlin, while easing the global suffering 
their actions have caused.
    Since the war began, more than 13 million people have been 
displaced--over a quarter of Ukraine's population including two-thirds 
of the country's children. That includes 5.7 million refugees, 90 
percent of whom are women and children. An estimated 7.7 million more 
people are internally displaced inside Ukraine. An estimated 15.7 
million people inside Ukraine will need humanitarian assistance over 
the next 4 months.
    These supplemental resources that Congress provided have been 
instrumental in surging critically-needed assistance to those in need 
in the country, and to mobilizing the humanitarian systems required to 
coordinate a significant response. To date, our implementing partner, 
the World Food Program--which was not present on the ground in Ukraine 
when the conflict broke out--has scaled up its presence, and has now 
provided nearly 3.5 million people with rapid response rations, bread 
distributions, and cash-based transfers, with plans to increase 
distribution to reach 6 million people by June. With support from the 
United States and other donors, UNICEF and its local partners have 
provided critical health supplies to support access to primary 
healthcare for over 1.5 million children and women and ensured access 
to safe water for nearly 1.3 million people in affected areas as of May 
3. While much has been accomplished, we recognize that more must be 
done, particularly in securing humanitarian access to reach those in 
active conflict zones with the assistance they urgently need.
    To support the Ukrainian government's ability to administer 
services and manage its budgetary needs, USAID has contributed $500 
million to the World Bank's Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Ukraine (MDTF), 
and as President Biden announced recently, we plan to transfer an 
additional $500 million from the fiscal year 2022 Ukraine Supplemental 
Appropriations Act, for a total of $1 billion. The supplemental funding 
will also enable us to provide assistance to Ukraine and neighboring 
frontline states like Moldova. This plan focuses on economic 
stabilization, countering disinformation, and promoting energy 
independence.
    Of course, Putin's war has effects beyond Ukraine's borders. The 
Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine has led to serious disruptions to global 
food, fuel, and fertilizer supplies, while also denting crop production 
and household incomes, and causing already high food prices to rise 
further, thereby taxing the international humanitarian system. USAID is 
coordinating with other U.S. Departments and Agencies to respond to 
immediate, medium-, and long-term impacts on global food security and 
nutrition. Estimates suggest that up to 40 million additional people 
could be pushed into poverty and food insecurity over the coming year--
in addition to the over 800 million people around the world who already 
face hunger. These populations are mostly focused in the Middle East, 
and West and East Africa, where higher fertilizer prices today threaten 
crop yields and harvests tomorrow. With the main planting season about 
to begin, countries like Ethiopia and South Sudan face the possibility 
of significant reductions to projected crop yields, food accessibility, 
and household incomes.
    Putin's attack and its devastating effects on global food security 
comes on top of 2 years of record food insecurity as a result of the 
COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. In fiscal year 2022, nearly two 
thirds of our Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance's programming was to 
address food insecurity and prevent famine through emergency food 
assistance and related programming. This year, a similar proportion of 
funding will go to address growing food insecurity, however, due to the 
skyrocketing costs of food and fuel, the same amount of funding will 
reach 10 million fewer people.
    In light of the food crisis, USAID, together with our partners at 
USDA, have made the exceptional decision to draw down the full balance 
of the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust--$282 million--which will be 
used to procure U.S. food commodities to bolster existing emergency 
food operations in six countries facing severe food insecurity: 
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen. We are 
immensely grateful to USDA, which will provide $388 million in 
additional funding through the Commodity Credit Corporation to cover 
transportation and other associated costs so that food can get to 
places around the globe where it is needed most.
    Yet even as we meet short-term food assistance needs, we must 
continue to invest in long-term food security and build resilient food 
systems so that countries have the ability to feed themselves, lower 
their dependence on Russian wheat and agriculture, and manage future 
food shocks.
    The United States Government has long been a global leader in 
addressing global food insecurity. In the first 7 years since the 
launch of the U.S. Feed the Future Initiative, the program is estimated 
to have lifted 23.4 million people out of poverty, 5.2 million 
households out of hunger, and 3.4 million children from risk of 
stunting. That's in addition to the program's measurable benefits for 
farmers and agribusinesses here in the U.S. and around the world, due 
to increased agricultural productivity, trade, jobs and income, and 
U.S. exports.
    And yet, new disruptions to food security around the world indicate 
that our need for funding will continue to be significant. That's why 
the fiscal year 2023 request includes over $1 billion in State and 
USAID economic and development funding for global food security. This 
money will go towards bolstering Feed the Future initiatives around the 
world, strengthening food systems, supporting farmers, and building 
community resilience.
    controlling covid-19 and strengthening global health leadership
    Much has changed from the haunting early days in March 2020. Thanks 
to funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and additional 
supplemental appropriations, the United States has been the clear 
leader in the international response to COVID-19, and our Agency has 
already invested over 95 percent of the funding Congress has generously 
provided to us, and we expect to obligate virtually all of the 
remaining funds by July.
    We have expanded testing, treatment, and surveillance in countries 
around the world. In hotspots in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and 
the Caribbean, we have provided rapid responses for urgent healthcare 
needs, critical commodities, and technical assistance. And we have 
helped support developing countries in mitigating the transmission and 
morbidity of COVID-19, while also helping those countries prevent and 
mitigate food insecurity, gender-based violence, and other secondary 
effects of COVID-19.
    Our Agency has also helped lead the effort to vaccinate the world. 
In partnership with the Department of Defense, we have procured 1 
billion Pfizer vaccine doses for up to 100 countries around the world, 
free of charge and with no strings attached. We are addressing the most 
urgent vaccine delivery and country readiness needs in more than 100 
countries, including surge support to 11 countries in sub-Saharan 
Africa, under the U.S. government's Global VAX initiative. We are 
leading Global VAX as a whole-of-government effort in close partnership 
with the Centers for Disease Control--and we are already seeing 
significant vaccination progress in these countries such as Uganda, 
where vaccination coverage increased fivefold between January and May, 
and Nigeria, where vaccination rates increased nearly threefold during 
that same time period.
    And yet, our job remains unfinished. Many countries are still off 
track to hit their vaccination coverage targets this year. Global 
testing, treatment, and health services still lag. Without additional 
resources, many of our programs will begin wrapping up activities and 
closing down this fall. And we risk a significant loss of progress in 
our other global health programs if we cannot secure needed emergency 
funds. That's why President Biden requested $22.5 billion in 
supplemental funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, $5 billion of 
which would be dedicated to global efforts.
    Additional supplemental funding would enable a significant 
expansion of our international vaccination drive, provide surge support 
to an additional 20-to-25 undervaccinated countries in significant 
need, countries like Liberia, where 24 percent of the population is 
vaccinated, and Haiti, where less than 2 percent of the population is 
fully vaccinated. It would also support other international COVID-19 
response priorities like providing boosters and pediatric vaccinations, 
testing, treatments--including the newest, high-impact antivirals--as 
well as additional health services that would reach an additional 100 
million people.
    Such funding is essential if we are ever to turn COVID-19 from a 
damaging global pandemic into a manageable respiratory disease.
    Barring additional funding, the United States will have to turn its 
back on the countries that need urgent help to boost their vaccination 
rates and access lifesaving treatments. Failing to help these countries 
get shots into arms and reduce severe disease means we will leave their 
populations unprotected and allow the virus to continue mutating into 
new, potentially more dangerous variants. Scientific research has 
established that new variants are more likely to emerge from a long-
term infection in immuno-compromised individuals who lack access to 
vaccination or treatment. These variants will inevitably make their way 
onto American soil, close down American cities, and infect and cost 
American lives.
    On May 12,the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and 
Senegal co-hosted the second Global COVID-19 Summit. Summit 
participants made major new policy and financial commitments to make 
vaccines available to those at highest risk, to expand access to tests 
and treatments, and to prevent future health crises. Specifically, 
leaders from governments and other key partners, non-governmental 
organizations, the private sector, and philanthropies committed to 
provide $3.2 billion in new funding, in addition to previous 2022 
pledges. This includes nearly $2.5 billion for COVID-19 and related 
response activities and $712 million in new commitments toward a new 
pandemic preparedness and global health security fund at the World 
Bank. This funding will be complemented by significant policy 
commitments from lower-income countries to accelerate their domestic 
responses to COVID-19 and enhance their global health security 
capabilities. These commitments are critical, and show that others have 
been inspired to step up to fund this response and future pandemic 
preparedness. However, significant financing gaps remain, and they are 
no substitute for sustained leadership and significant investment from 
the United States to control what continues to be a deadly pandemic and 
prevent the emergence of new variants.
    As we race to end the pandemic, USAID continues to push ahead on 
our broader global health efforts. The fiscal year 2023 Request for 
USAID includes $3.96 billion to advance American leadership in Global 
Health and Global Health Security. These funds will help to prevent 
child and maternal deaths, bolster nutrition, control the HIV/AIDS 
epidemic, expand the global health workforce, and combat infectious 
diseases. Funding in USAID-managed assistance will respond to the 
ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global health programs 
including tuberculosis and malaria, as well as strengthening health 
systems and global health security to better prevent, detect, and 
respond to future infectious disease outbreaks.
    In addition, the fiscal year 2023 request includes $6.5 billion in 
mandatory funding for the Department of State and USAID for critical 
pandemic preparedness activities. These funds will make transformative 
investments in pandemic and other biological threat preparedness 
globally by strengthening the global health workforce, advancing 
pandemic vaccine development, replenishing emergency response capacity, 
and providing health security financing to prevent, detect, and respond 
to future infectious disease outbreaks.
    bolstering democracy, human rights, and governance and fighting 
                               corruption
    As the pandemic stretched into a second year, pro-democracy 
movements in many countries faltered, while governments, under guise of 
ending the pandemic, enacted new restrictions on human rights and 
fundamental freedoms. Disinformation ran rampant and sowed division 
within and between free nations. And the Chinese and Russian 
governments have worsened these trends by supporting authoritarian 
actors all over the world.
    At the same time, corruption has increased in scale and scope. 
Today's corrupt actors are highly networked, agile, and resourced--and 
for the most part, they outmatch those who stand against them. USAID's 
Anti-Corruption Task Force found that USAID Missions have extremely 
limited--and in some cases, no--resources to defend against corruption. 
While this is incredibly concerning, it's also a historic window of 
opportunity for reform.
    This opportunity, combined with the increased threats of corruption 
and democratic backsliding, is why the fiscal year 2023 Request 
includes over $2.94 billion to revitalize global democracy. These funds 
will empower local partners, provide transparency in political systems, 
and address authoritarianism and disinformation. Of this foreign 
assistance request for democracy, roughly $2.6 billion is in accounts 
that USAID will fully or partially manage. The request will advance the 
Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal introduced at the Summit 
for Democracy, a landmark set of policy and foreign assistance 
initiatives that support free and independent media, empower 
historically marginalized groups and democratic reformers, and help 
develop open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems.
    Traditionally, our democracy assistance has emphasized media 
training, election monitoring, and human rights advocacy. But as we've 
seen, countries in the midst of a civilian transition or with a newly 
elected leader who rose to power on the back of a campaign to fight 
corruption or expand the rule of law, need not only traditional 
democracy assistance and investments in civil society to hold 
governments accountable, but resources that can immediately deliver a 
democratic dividend that demonstrate the value of good governance and 
strong institutions and services for citizens. That might include 
support to acquire vaccines, establish a social safety net, or invest 
in a power utility to keep the lights on. This funding will give us the 
flexibility to support countries in the event of a democratic opening--
so-called democratic ``bright spots''-- with the resources they need to 
demonstrate that democracies can deliver for their people. This amount 
also includes $100 million to fight transnational corruption by 
empowering anti- corruption champions, strengthening partner countries' 
ability to detect and prevent corruption, and exposing and disrupting 
the flow of illicit money, goods, and natural resources.
    The President's fiscal year 2023 request includes $2.6 billion for 
USAID and the Department of State to promote gender equality and the 
political, economic, and social empowerment of women and girls; prevent 
and respond to gender-based violence; expand access to child, elder, 
and home care services and address gender discrimination and systemic 
inequities blocking the full participation of women and girls, men and 
boys, and individuals of other gender identities-- all by integrating 
gender equality across a range of development, humanitarian and 
security assistance. This historic request would more than double our 
commitment to women's empowerment and gender equality.
    Advancing gender equality reduces poverty, promotes economic 
growth, increases access to education, improves health outcomes, 
advances political stability, and fosters democracy. The full 
participation of all people is essential to economic well-being, 
health, and security.
                   restoring u.s. climate leadership
    Recently, USAID launched a new Climate Strategy that will guide our 
efforts to tackle the existential threat of climate change over this 
decade in a way that is truly transformational.
    Our Climate Strategy lays out six ambitious targets to be achieved 
between 2022-2030, which together would represent a dramatic increase 
in our Agency's efforts to stem the climate crisis. These targets 
include preventing six billion metric tons of global greenhouse gas 
emissions--the equivalent of taking 100 million cars off the road for a 
decade--and conserving 100 million hectares of critical landscapes, an 
area more than twice the size of California. We would also support 500 
million people to better prepare for and adapt to the impacts of 
climate change that are already wreaking havoc on marginalized 
communities.
    The President's fiscal year 2023 request includes $2.3 billion in 
international climate financing, and given the substantial gap in 
climate financing globally, USAID's Climate Strategy places a special 
emphasis on catalyzing substantial new private investment for climate 
mitigation and adaptation; our goal is to kickstart $150 billion in new 
public and private climate finance by 2030. We are also focused on the 
conservation, restoration and management of 100 million hectares of 
carbon critical landscapes by 2039--land that captures and stores 
carbon while preserving biodiversity and helping to prevent zoonotic 
transfer of diseases driven by habitat destruction.
    We also continue to work closely with the Government of India 
through the support of their global climate initiative, the Coalition 
for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. The United States is a founding 
member of the coalition, and we have invested in supporting its 
technical leadership and formalization, with a goal of creating a 
global body that will advocate for the creation of infrastructure that 
can withstand climate and disaster risks and disseminate best 
practices. Since its founding in 2019, the Coalition now has 35 global 
members and over 400 companies, all working to share expertise and 
strengthen resilient infrastructure development across the globe.
          addressing irregular migration from central america
    In the past 6 months alone, USAID programming in Central America 
has created more than 40,000 jobs, provided life-saving humanitarian 
assistance to 1.8 million people, supported distribution of more than 
10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, and helped mobilize $1.2 billion in 
private investment. Because one of the most effective ways to counter 
irregular migration is to provide legal means for securing seasonal or 
temporary migration, we have helped expand labor migration pathways 
from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras through the H-2B seasonal 
visa program. And we have used policy, development, and diplomatic 
tools to pressure leaders in the region to govern democratically and 
transparently.
    But as demonstrated by the continued arrival of migrants at 
American borders, much more work is needed. Individual migration 
decisions are complex, but they are rarely made on a whim, and we use 
data from multiple sources to understand their root causes and target 
our programs accordingly. As documented by the Government 
Accountability Office, the decision to suspend most assistance to 
Northern Central America in 2019 adversely impacted over 80 percent of 
USAID projects, and we continue to work aggressively to restart, 
optimize and scale our programs. For fiscal year 2023, USAID and the 
Department of State are requesting $986.8 million to support the second 
year of implementation of the U.S. Strategy to Address the Root Causes 
of Migration in Central America.
    Using this money, we will continue working with partners in civil 
society, government, and the private sector to address the drivers of 
migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras-- drivers like lack 
of economic opportunity, corruption, violence, human rights abuses, 
absence of quality public services, and declining trust in government. 
We will continue building and implementing a robust monitoring, 
evaluation, and learning plan designed to track progress under the 
Strategy. And we will defend democracy, human rights, and civic space 
throughout Central America so that citizens believe they have a voice 
and a future in their countries of origin. Nicaragua is a case in 
point. The Ortega regime's gravely concerning wide-scale crackdown on 
civil society and rejection of democratic norms and processes in 
Nicaragua has coincided with a major rise in out migration of 
Nicaraguans fleeing political repression and economic stagnation under 
Ortega.
     responding to humanitarian crises in places like ethiopia and 
                              afghanistan
    Stopping the threat of famine and addressing atrocities in Ethiopia 
is a top priority for the Biden Administration and for USAID. Fighting 
has left as many as 9 million people in northern Ethiopia in desperate 
need of food and forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes. 
Food insecurity projections from February 2022 to May 2022 show that up 
to a million people will face famine-like conditions in northern 
Ethiopia by June--700,000 of those in the Tigray Region. In the Tigray 
Region alone, more than 90 percent of people depend on assistance.
    At the same time, there have been multiple, credible reports of 
gross violations of human rights related to the conflict in northern 
Ethiopia Since last appearing before this committee, I visited the Um 
Rakuba refugee camp in Sudan, where I met with victims of the conflict 
in Tigray and heard their heartbreaking stories of abuse and violence.
    Recently, the Government of Ethiopia and Tigray regional 
authorities reached a truce in their fighting--the source of so much of 
this human misery. And since the truce on March 24, over 200 trucks 
have arrived in Tigray in April alone, with the number of trucks slowly 
increasing. But to meet the immense humanitarian needs in Tigray, more 
than 500 trucks carrying tons of food and life-saving supplies need to 
arrive each week. The current flow is woefully insufficient.
    We will continue to push for significant, sustained, unconditional, 
and unhindered delivery of much-needed aid to all those in need. We 
will also continue working with interagency partners to address and 
mitigate ongoing human rights violations and credible reports of 
atrocities by countering hate speech and mis- and disinformation, 
strengthening protection of freedom of expression and peaceful protest, 
supporting independent media outlets and watchdog organizations, 
strengthening local conflict mitigation, supporting the rule of law, 
building an enabling environment for national dialogue, and monitoring 
and documenting human rights abuses.
    In Afghanistan, an estimated 22.8 million Afghans face food 
insecurity following the Taliban's seized power in August 2021. 
Currently, the United Nations estimates that 95 percent of the Afghan 
population is in need of assistance. And to truly end the humanitarian 
crisis, we must also address the roots of Afghanistan's economic and 
development crises as well as advocate for the promotion of human 
rights for all Afghans. On March 23, the Taliban abruptly reversed its 
decision to allow girls to attend school past the sixth grade. On May 
7, the Taliban imposed additional restrictions on Afghan women and 
girls freedom of movement, employment, and access to society, all of 
which jeopardize the human rights and agency of Afghan women The 
Taliban have also threatened civil society organizations through media 
crackdowns, intimidation, unjust detentions, and assaults of 
journalists.
    While we continue to work through diplomatic channels and 
likeminded donors to press the Taliban to reverse course and allow all 
girls to go to school, women to work and participate in the economy and 
protect the rights of minorities and civil society; we remain committed 
to supporting the people of Afghanistan. The United States has been the 
single largest donor of humanitarian assistance since the fall of Kabul 
in August 2021. Since then, the U.S. Government has contributed $719 
million. Alongside us, the humanitarian community provided another 
$1.82 billion towards the humanitarian response in 2021. And we are 
working with our partners to support basic needs like health, 
livelihoods, agriculture, and education.
    We will continue programs to enable the direct delivery of 
humanitarian assistance. Our aid helps support rural livelihoods, 
improve food security and develop resistance in food systems in 
Afghanistan, enable women and girls to access quality healthcare, 
education, support for gender- based violence, civil society 
organizations, and training and livelihood programs. And we support 
journalists and media organizations, while also working to counter 
human trafficking.
                  supporting community-led development
    Across all our efforts, it is crucial that we engage more 
frequently and more intensely and sustainably with a broader range of 
partners. That's especially true of the community-led organizations and 
companies based in the countries in which we work. When we partner with 
these local NGOs and businesses, we have an opportunity to double our 
impact--to not just manage a project and deliver results, but to grow 
the local capacity of that business or organization so its impact will 
be sustained long after its relationship with USAID ends.
    Our current approach to community-led development draws upon more 
than a decade of the Agency's prior experience. It aims to devolve more 
power and leadership to local actors, elevate diversity and equity in 
our partnerships, and address some of the systemic and operational 
constraints at USAID. We have to approach localization as a shift in 
not just with whom we work, but also in how we work: creating 
intentional shifts in the way we design and implement our programs so 
that we are putting local communities and stakeholders in the lead. 
This is about deeper, more systemic change.
    Our efforts to advance community-led development have been warmly 
embraced by more than 1,000 local development organizations, as well as 
by many of our implementing partners and some of the largest 
international non-governmental organizations. Thanks to your support, 
the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill provided an initial $100 
million in the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill to support our 
Centroamerica Local initiative, along with the authority, flexibility, 
and staff resources to prioritize working with local organizations in 
Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
    With more support from Congress, we can deepen this approach across 
our Agency and our Missions. The fiscal year 2023 request includes 
$47.6 million for the Centroamerica Local initiative--$40 million for 
direct awards to local organizations and $7.6 million to help staff 
this effort.
        investing in our people and building a stronger culture
    Of course, none of what we set out to achieve would be possible 
without USAID's dedicated team of development professionals serving our 
nation throughout the world. Many of our staff are still reeling from 
the COVID-19 pandemic, having lost loved ones even as they sought to 
protect others in their community from the virus.
    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.
    The fiscal year 2023 request includes $1.7 billion to continue 
these efforts to invest in our people and build our institutional 
capacity, increasing the number of U.S. direct-hire positions that 
advance our most critical and effective foreign assistance program. 
This funding covers salaries and benefits of our direct hire Foreign 
Service and Civil Service workforce, overseas and Washington 
operations, and central support, including human capital initiatives, 
security, and information technology. The fiscal year 2023 Request also 
includes resources for the launch of the Global Development Partnership 
initiative, a workforce expansion program, that will focus on democracy 
and anti-corruption, global health security, national security, climate 
change, operational management, and a more permanent humanitarian 
assistance workforce.
    But in reconstituting our workforce, we want to recruit and retain 
talent differently than we have before, with an emphasis on hiring and 
nurturing a workforce that truly represents America. Thanks to the 
sustained leadership of our staff, we've taken several steps toward 
these aims. Their work and advocacy over many years enabled one of my 
first acts as Administrator, which was signing the USAID Diversity, 
Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan--a framework 
document to guide the Agency's efforts to integrate DEIA into every 
aspect of our work.
    Since signing this document, we've taken concrete steps to advance 
our DEIA goals. We have conducted assessments that provided us with 
data and employee experiences to help us decide how to prioritize our 
efforts and resources. We onboarded five DEIA Advisors in Washington 
operating units and are actively recruiting more. And we have 
established the Office of the Chief DEIA Officer and welcomed our 
Agency's first-ever Chief Diversity Officer. We also launched our first 
recruitment conferences for students at both Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, with 
another planned for Arab American students later this year.
    Since appearing before you last year, I have had the chance to 
travel to three HBCUs--Delaware State, Tuskegee University, and Alcorn 
State--as well as Florida International University, the largest 
Hispanic-Serving Institution in the U.S., to sign new agreements that 
will help expand our recruitment and research partnerships.
    Additionally, we are addressing current DEIA data gaps by making 
our data collection process more inclusive. We're expanding our talent 
recruitment pipelines and lowering barriers to entry for development 
partnership opportunities by collaborating with minority-serving 
institutions, increasing engagement and career development 
opportunities for underrepresented students, and establishing hiring 
goals to increase the number of employees who are persons with 
disabilities.
    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 are also developing commitments to our 
locally- employed colleagues to codify entitlements, benefits, and 
career advancement and professional development opportunities for our 
Foreign Service Nationals, who constitute 70 percent of our overseas 
workforce.
                               conclusion
    The challenges we have encountered in the past year are grave and 
loom large, but I sincerely believe the opportunity before us is even 
larger. By providing the resources necessary to seize this moment, the 
United States can galvanize commitments from our allies and our private 
sector partners; support the people of Ukraine in their moment of need 
and help manage the impact the Kremlin's war is having on the world's 
food supply; control the COVID-19 pandemic while laying the groundwork 
to detect and prevent future pandemics, strengthen health systems, and 
quickly rollout future vaccines; help countries adapt to the worst 
effects of climate change while embracing new renewable technologies 
and green jobs; and demonstrate to the world that democracies can 
deliver in a way no autocracy can.
    With your support, USAID will move aggressively to grasp this 
opportunity. Thank you.

                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of Acting Inspector, General Thomas J. Ullom, U.S. 
                  Agency for International Development
    Chairman Coons, Ranking Member Graham, and Members of the 
Subcommittee:

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide a written statement for 
the subcommittee's hearing on the U.S. Agency for International 
Development's (USAID's) fiscal year 2023 budget request. The USAID 
Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides independent, objective 
oversight to safeguard and strengthen U.S. foreign assistance. We 
appreciate your continued support of our office as we work across USAID 
as well as the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. African 
Development Foundation, and the Inter-American Foundation to promote 
effectiveness and efficiency in foreign assistance programs and 
identify and deter the fraud, waste, and abuse that can jeopardize 
those programs' success.
    USAID's mission is to advance a peaceful and prosperous world 
through its development and humanitarian assistance activities, and in 
doing so advance U.S. national security and economic priorities. The 
Agency's budget request speaks to ongoing and planned development and 
humanitarian work around the globe with ambitious aims--from saving 
lives to fighting transnational corruption to tackling root causes of 
irregular migration. It also includes elements intended to provide for 
a secure and skilled workforce to enable USAID's success. As in prior 
years, supplemental funding to address new crises may augment USAID's 
responsibility on the world stage and increase demands on the Agency's 
capability to act.
    USAID must overcome complex challenges while executing its mission 
across over 100 countries. It often works in close coordination with 
other U.S. government agencies and international donors while 
overseeing an array of contractors, grantees, and other recipients of 
U.S. funds worldwide. Our work highlights the importance of 
implementing controls and building partnerships in even the most 
difficult settings to manage, monitor, and sustain results. The U.S. 
government's response to the conflict in Ukraine illustrates the 
multifaceted risks. There, USAID is called to overcome supply chain 
constraints to support the Ukrainian people's most critical needs, 
coordinate with domestic and international partners to advance 
objectives, and support the safety of its own staff.
    This statement draws upon our annual report on the top management 
challenges facing USAID and aligns with our five priority oversight 
areas:\1\

  --Advancing global health outcomes
  --Managing aid in emerging and protracted crises
  --Leveraging local strengths for sustainable development
  --Advancing foreign assistance priorities through coordinated efforts
  --Strengthening core management functions

    As discussed below, our work points to key lessons for USAID and 
other stakeholders to both amplify strengths and address potential 
risks in U.S. humanitarian and development programs. This is especially 
critical with respect to managing urgent and ongoing crises and 
addressing emerging priorities of the administration. Overall, amid 
long-standing development challenges and an ever-changing geopolitical 
landscape, our work underscores the constant need for responsible 
stewardship among agencies and implementers alike.
                    advancing global health outcomes
    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose an unprecedented global 
public health crisis with more than 500 million confirmed cases and 6.2 
million deaths as of April 2022. USAID contributed to the U.S. 
government's international pandemic response to combat the virus and 
prevent decades of development gains from being lost due to the 
resulting economic, democratic, and social backsliding effects. In 
addition, USAID has committed to reinforcing U.S. global health 
leadership in pandemic preparedness and decades-long advances in 
responses to HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and infectious 
diseases like malaria.
    Our oversight of USAID's COVID-19 response and broader global 
health portfolio identifies specific challenges planning, implementing, 
and monitoring activities:

  --USAID had limited control over some key decisions. Starting in 
        April 2020, the National Security Council (NSC) made key 
        decisions for USAID's COVID-19 ventilator donation program of 
        over $200 million, including which ventilator models to send 
        and where to send them.\2\ This marked a significant departure 
        from USAID's customary practice for responding to public health 
        emergencies, and the NSC's decisions did not align with USAID's 
        planned pandemic response. For example, most of the countries 
        that USAID had proposed to support were categorized as low- or 
        lower-middle income by the World Bank, but well over half of 
        all ventilator donations were made to upper-middle- or high-
        income countries, as directed by the NSC. The Government 
        Accountability Office further reported that USAID had limited 
        information on the location or use of the ventilators once 
        delivered.
  --Procurement and delivery challenges could affect COVID-19 vaccine 
        donation effectiveness. We reported that USAID may need to 
        adapt oversight to mitigate the risk of fraud, waste, and abuse 
        for USAID's $4 billion contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine 
        Alliance.\3\ We also reported that USAID, in finalizing its 
        vaccine strategy, was working through constraints with human 
        resources, supply chains, and public trust in countries 
        receiving donated vaccines. By March 2022, USAID had delivered 
        half a billion vaccines to more than 110 countries but noted 
        that in-country constraints as well as funding shortfalls could 
        keep vaccines from reaching those who need them.
  --Stronger planning and evaluation processes are needed for global 
        health supply chain awards. Weaknesses hindered USAID's ability 
        to support key design and award decisions for its $9.5 billion 
        global health supply chain contract issued to Chemonics 
        International in 2015.\4\ In addition, while Chemonics 
        International generally delivered health commodities in the 
        right quantities, more oversight was needed to improve 
        timeliness and performance. USAID still has work to do to 
        address open recommendations on procurement, oversight, and 
        risk mitigation, including improving guidance for evaluating a 
        bidder's management information systems--a critical component 
        of a global health supply chain--prior to making a future 
        award. These improvements are key for USAID to make as it 
        prepares to award its $17 billion NextGen global health supply 
        chain contracts.

    USAID continues to make progress addressing challenges and 
strengthening its global health approach. For example, in April 2022, 
the Agency revised its Framework for USAID's Response to Infectious 
Disease Outbreaks, which it first developed in July 2018 in response to 
our oversight work on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. However, 
continued diligence is imperative as global conditions evolve. We will 
keep strategic focus on USAID's global health portfolio, including the 
COVID-19 response and programming for the President's Emergency Plan 
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In the coming year, our planned oversight 
activities include a series of COVID-19 audits covering topics to 
include USAID's coordination of related efforts, rapid response, and 
vaccine readiness activities.
             managing aid in emerging and protracted crises
    USAID responded to over 80 crises worldwide in fiscal year 2021 to 
provide life-saving support in dire situations, whether brought on by 
conflict, natural disaster, or a combination of factors. Over the past 
5 years, assistance for humanitarian needs as a portion of USAID's 
budget has doubled, reaching nearly 40 percent of USAID's net costs in 
fiscal year 2021. As needs grow and crises expand due to worsening 
weather events and prolonged pandemic effects, rigorous planning, 
monitoring, and risk mitigation are critical to safeguard U.S. 
assistance.
    Our work highlights some of the difficulties conducting sound 
planning, monitoring, and risk mitigation in humanitarian settings:

  --Fraud risk mitigation strategies must include the right actors and 
        level of detail for accountability. Otherwise, USAID faces 
        increased risks of fraud and diversion, as we found in our 
        oversight of USAID's humanitarian responses in Syria\5\ and the 
        Venezuela regional crisis.\6\ USAID recently developed a new 
        framework for managing fraud risk in response to our oversight 
        that includes defined roles and responsibilities and 
        requirements for risk assessments, control activities, and 
        monitoring. Assessing, mitigating, and monitoring fraud risks 
        remains critical for USAID in the coming year as crises unfold. 
        We have received dozens of reports of diversion and loss of 
        assistance intended for beneficiaries in Northern Ethiopia and 
        alerted USAID to instances when intimidation and demands from 
        the Taliban compromised humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
  --While USAID aims to bolster oversight with third-party monitoring, 
        doing so effectively has been a challenge. The extreme poverty 
        and chronic food insecurity of Africa's Sahel region draw 
        reoccurring emergency interventions, but the monitoring efforts 
        USAID relied on to track progress and make course corrections 
        fell short, which we found could affect its follow-on 
        programming.\7\ In Afghanistan, USAID reported that while the 
        end of armed conflict has improved humanitarian access, USAID-
        funded organizations continue to face access restrictions 
        affecting their female aid workers.\8\
  --With lives and livelihoods at stake, looking beyond immediate need 
        is daunting but essential for a more stable future. This was 
        the case with the Venezuela regional crisis, where we found 
        USAID had not prepared strategies to guide in-country 
        development efforts or programs to manage Venezuelan migration 
        in neighboring countries. In Iraq, we found that USAID's 
        guidance and practices did not encourage transitioning from 
        more immediate humanitarian assistance to longer term 
        solutions.\9\ While USAID has taken steps to address related 
        recommendations, the importance of deliberate planning remains 
        paramount for protracted and evolving scenarios, like in Syria 
        and Iraq, where drought now threatens food insecurity and 
        destabilizes the transition from humanitarian assistance.\10\

    We continue to examine humanitarian oversight and fraud risks in 
priority areas, including the Northern Triangle, Burma, and Yemen, and 
are planning new work on USAID's response to the circumstances in 
Ukraine and Afghanistan. We are also engaging directly with USAID's 
teams, program implementers, and our oversight partners on the ground 
to enhance awareness for preventing fraud, diversions, and losses that 
threaten the integrity of U.S. foreign assistance.
         leveraging local strengths for sustainable development
    USAID has long encouraged locally led development to achieve 
enduring results. In its fiscal year 2023 budget request, USAID 
reiterated its commitment to local investments by partnering with new, 
nontraditional, and diverse actors; empowering local organizations; and 
promoting transparent investments. Under this strategy, broad goals for 
sustained economic growth, gender equity, climate change, and more 
depend on leveraging the skills and interests of local partners, 
governments, and private sector entities.
    Yet, locally led development brings certain risks that USAID must 
accept or work to mitigate:

  --The quantity and capability of local partners may be insufficient 
        to lead some development efforts. When we looked at PEPFAR 
        programs in Africa, we found USAID was not on track to meet the 
        goal of channeling 70 percent of PEPFAR budgets through local 
        partners by September 2020 due to low baselines and challenges 
        identifying and developing capable local organizations.\11\ 
        Thus, some missions focused on programmatic rather than 
        budgetary goals. USAID faced similar issues with supply chains 
        in some countries and balanced risks by doing work on behalf of 
        local officials or by operating parallel supply chains.\12\
  --Local internal control and compliance systems may be weak. In the 
        past 10 years, we have made over 3,500 recommendations to USAID 
        citing internal control and compliance issues and questioned 
        over $1.1 billion through our reviews of local partner 
        financial audits. In the last 2 years, these financial audits 
        found over 20 instances in Africa where USAID's local partners 
        did not perform required due diligence checks, including 
        verifying whether potential employees and suppliers were 
        restricted from receiving U.S. government funds.
  --To optimize private sector engagement, USAID needs more guidance, 
        data, and dedicated staff.\13\ Otherwise, USAID risks falling 
        short of its private sector goals. We also found USAID needs 
        more guidance for monitoring cost-share contributions for 
        building local commitment.\14\
  --Weaknesses in controls and oversight can have undercutting effects. 
        One example is evidence suggesting corruption at a Kenyan 
        state-run corporation and recipient of a $650 million award 
        with USAID to store and distribute donated medical commodities. 
        The situation compromised the provision of goods to vulnerable 
        Kenyans and complicated USAID's ability to manage its 
        investment. Other examples from recent investigations include 
        the theft and resale of equipment intended for Jordanian 
        project beneficiaries and substandard construction of USAID-
        funded projects in West Bank.

    Whereas USAID looks to local organizations to bring both tailored 
solutions and have the capacity to implement them, our oversight 
examines how USAID executes its role to ensure that its local partners 
are equipped to responsibly implement and account for U.S. foreign 
assistance. In addition to investigations and financial audits, our 
ongoing work includes a performance audit of USAID's New Partnerships 
Initiative, a performance audit of USAID's approach to reviewing and 
vetting Northern Triangle program implementers, and a performance audit 
of USAID's $845 million cash transfer to the Jordanian government.
  advancing foreign assistance priorities through coordinated efforts
    Achievement of U.S. foreign assistance aims often depends on 
effective coordination between USAID, other Federal agencies, bilateral 
donors and host nations, private and public sector organizations, and 
multilateral institutions. This coordination takes place at both 
strategic and operational levels and in a wide variety of forums as 
USAID delivers aid and assistance alongside other donors working in the 
same areas. USAID must also balance executive and legislative branch 
mandates and priorities, align efforts to counteract malign actors, and 
deconflict activities to avoid internal and external duplication.
    Our work highlights some of the challenges USAID faces when 
coordinating on key decisions and strategic priorities with other 
stakeholders:

  --Funding decisions by other actors can take USAID's programs in a 
        different direction than planned, as occurred with donated 
        ventilators early in the COVID-19 response.\15\ Similarly, the 
        Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014 directed 
        USAID to prioritize countries based on needs-based criteria and 
        opportunity indicators.\16\ However, we found USAID lacked 
        final authority for funding decisions and, at the State 
        Department's direction, ended up providing funds to some 
        countries that had low demonstrated needs.
  --To increase resilience against Russian aggression, USAID produced 
        the Countering Malign Kremlin Influence (CMKI) Development 
        Framework. However, in developing the framework, USAID did not 
        engage all internal and external stakeholders, including other 
        regional bureaus within the Agency and external donors such as 
        the European Union's Eastern Partnership Program.\17\
  --In response to statutory requirements over concerns that resources 
        were not reaching persecuted communities in Iraq, USAID took 
        efforts to channel more funds through religious and ethnic 
        minority groups. Due to a State Department-led staffing 
        reduction in Iraq, USAID faced obstacles managing the 
        increasingly complex Iraq award portfolio. While the Agency 
        sought to increase staffing levels in Iraq, these attempts were 
        unsuccessful.\18\
  --A concern affecting global development and humanitarian assistance 
        is sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), a topic we have worked 
        ardently with USAID and oversight partners to address since 
        2019. In August 2021, we alerted USAID to concerns about the 
        World Health Organization's lack of cooperation with our 
        investigative inquiry into SEA allegations against its aid 
        workers. USAID is also still working to close our audit 
        recommendations to strengthen guidance and controls and improve 
        incident reporting and tracking in an effort to prevent and 
        respond to SEA against beneficiaries.\19\

    We continue to examine opportunities to enhance coordination with 
existing and potential stakeholders through our oversight and other 
outreach efforts. This includes leveraging information-sharing 
relationships through collaboration with 12 international oversight 
counterparts, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the World Health 
Organization; and other U.N. agency oversight counterparts enabling us 
to cast a wide net to confront corruption allegations affecting 
programs across the aid sector.
                strengthening core management functions
    In executing its annual budget, USAID relies on support functions 
for managing finances, awards, information, and human capital. The 
fiscal year 2023 budget request ties these core management functions to 
a revitalized workforce that advances critical foreign assistance 
programs and ensures prudent accountability of taxpayer dollars.
    USAID shows continued diligence in strengthening related controls. 
For example, just over 7 years ago, a material weakness with USAID's 
reconciliations with the U.S. Treasury kept us from providing an 
opinion on the Agency's financial statements.\20\ Since then, USAID has 
worked to fix the gap, so that its financial statements are presented 
fairly and in conformance with applicable principles. However, as USAID 
adapts its development and humanitarian assistance programs for 
emerging priorities, attention to core management functions remains 
critical:

  --Challenges in the areas of award design and monitoring can lead to 
        opportunities for fraud, waste, and abuse. For example, after 
        confirming a Jordanian firm engaged in a pass-through scheme to 
        obtain an award for which it was ineligible, we issued a fraud 
        alert flagging that USAID small business set-aside awards were 
        susceptible to being awarded to pass-through or shell companies 
        with no actual presence in the United States, contrary to the 
        Small Business Act.
  --The increasing threat and number of cyberattacks on government 
        agencies demands effective protection of personally 
        identifiable information. We determined that USAID needs 
        additional controls to protect personally identifiable 
        information.\21\ Moreover, our annual audit mandated by the 
        Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) 
        identified weaknesses in four of nine FISMA reporting metric 
        domains--including identity and access management and supply 
        chain management--for USAID's information security program in 
        fiscal year 2021.\22\
  --Nearly one-third of our performance audits issued in the last 
        decade identified staffing or training gaps as the root cause 
        of programmatic shortfalls. We are concluding an audit 
        examining the extent to which USAID met congressionally 
        mandated staffing goals, identified skills gaps, and measured 
        progress toward assessing those gaps. We are also concluding an 
        evaluation of USAID's prolific use of personal services 
        contractors in humanitarian settings and an evaluation of the 
        Africa Bureau's human capital management practices.

    We will maintain focus on core management functions through 
mandated and discretionary oversight activities. We will also continue 
to raise awareness for strengthening controls and accountability, 
including identifying loopholes that hinder the government's ability to 
enforce civil fraud remedies against USAID-funded organizations based 
outside of the United States.
           concluding observations about continued oversight
    We appreciate the subcommittee's enduring support for our office's 
independent oversight mandate and the resources to meet current and 
emerging requirements. The fiscal year 2023 request seeks $80.5 million 
for USAID OIG. These funds will support audit, evaluation, inspection, 
investigative, and other oversight work to promote positive change in 
the delivery of U.S. foreign assistance and help ensure that USAID 
prudently uses every dollar it receives.
    Our fiscal year 2021 audit and investigative returns amounted to 
$1.75 for each dollar we received to support our operations. In 
addition, our recommendations have triggered foundational changes in 
policy and programming around global health and humanitarian 
assistance, Agency procurements, and accountability related to the 
prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will build on these 
accomplishments, utilizing recent funding for oversight of programs 
responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, and 
continue to provide timely, relevant, and impactful oversight of U.S. 
foreign assistance.
    We stand ready to execute our priorities and plans for ensuring 
effective oversight of U.S. foreign assistance in fiscal year 2023. 
This includes a special focus on addressing pressing oversight 
requirements related to COVID-19 as well as programming in the Northern 
Triangle, the West Bank, and Gaza; expanding our inspections and 
evaluation capability; and advancing adaptations to a hybrid work 
environment. We will continue to maximize our impact by taking a 
strategic approach to oversight; leveraging key partnerships within the 
oversight community and with the agencies we oversee; and keeping 
agency leaders, Congress, and other stakeholders informed of the 
results of our work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ As required by statute, we annually identify and report the top 
challenges facing the agencies we oversee and the progress made in 
managing them.
    \2\ USAID OIG, USAID Had Limited Control Over COVID-19 Ventilator 
Donations, Differing From Its Customary Response to Public Health 
Emergencies (4-936-21-002-P), February 24, 2021.
    \3\ USAID OIG, U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Contributions: USAID Should 
Consider Enhancing Oversight to Mitigate Risk of Fraud, Waste, and 
Abuse (E-000-21-002-M), September 1, 2021.
    \4\ USAID OIG, Award Planning and Oversight Weaknesses Impeded 
Performance of USAID's Largest Global Health Supply Chain Project (9-
000-21-004-P), March 25, 2021.
    \5\ USAID OIG, Weaknesses in Oversight of USAID's Syria Response 
Point To the Need for Enhanced Management of Fraud Risks in 
Humanitarian Assistance (8-000-21-001-P), March 4, 2021.
    \6\ USAID OIG, Enhanced Processes and Implementer Requirements Are 
Needed To Address Challenges and Fraud Risks in USAID's Venezuela 
Response (9-000-21-005-P), April 16, 2021.
    \7\ USAID OIG, USAID's RISE Program in the Sahel Aligned With 
Resilience Policies but Lacked Robust Monitoring (4-000- 21-003-P), 
September 25, 2021.
    \8\ USAID OIG, Operation Freedom's Sentinel Lead Inspector General 
Quarterly Report to Congress October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, 
February 11, 2022.
    \9\ USAID OIG, Enhanced Guidance and Practices Would Improve 
USAID's Transition Planning and Third-Party Monitoring in Iraq (9-266-
21-003-P), February 19, 2021.
    \10\ USAID OIG, Lead Inspector General for Operation Inherent 
Resolve Quarterly Report to the United States Congress | October 1, 
2021--December 31, 2021, February 7, 2022.
    \11\ USAID OIG, PEPFAR in Africa: USAID Expanded the Use of Local 
Partners but Should Reassess Local Partner Capacity to Meet Funding 
Goals (4-936-22-001-P), December 13, 2021.
    \12\ USAID OIG, USAID's Global Health Supply Chain Would Benefit 
From More Rigorous Risk Management and Actions To Enhance Local 
Ownership (4-936-20-002-P), July 10, 2020.
    \13\ USAID OIG, Improved Guidance, Data, and Metrics Would Help 
Optimize USAID's Private Sector Engagement (5-000- 21-001-P), December 
9, 2020.
    \14\ USAID OIG, Cost Sharing: USAID's Asia Bureau Should Enhance 
Guidance and Training to Ensure Missions Verify Awardees' Contributions 
(5-000-22-002-P), November 26, 2021.
    \15\ USAID OIG, USAID Had Limited Control Over COVID-19 Ventilator 
Donations, Differing From Its Customary Response to Public Health 
Emergencies (4-936-21-002-P), February 24, 2021.
    \16\ USAID OIG, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Programming: 
USAID Faced Challenges Providing Assistance to Countries with Greatest 
Need (8-000-22-001-P), January 3, 2022.
    \17\ USAID OIG, Countering Malign Kremlin Influence: USAID Can Do 
More to Strengthen Its CMKI Development Framework (8-199-22-002-P), 
January 26, 2022.
    \18\ USAID OIG, Significant Events Surrounding USAID's Iraq 
Religious and Ethnic Minority Portfolio and Award Management Challenges 
(E-000-22-001-M), November 1, 2021.
    \19\ USAID OIG, USAID Should Implement Additional Controls To 
Prevent and Respond To Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Beneficiaries 
(9-000-21-006-P), May 12, 2021.
    \20\ USAID OIG, Audit of USAID's Financial Statements for fiscal 
years 2014 and 2013 (0-000-15-001-C), November 17, 2014.
    \21\ USAID OIG, USAID Needs to Improve Its Privacy Program to 
Better Ensure Protection of Personally Identifiable Information (A-000-
21-001-P), August 11, 2021.
    \22\ USAID OIG, USAID Implemented an Effective Information Security 
Program for fiscal year 2021 in Support of FISMA (A-000-22-005-C), 
December 7, 2021.

    Senator Coons. Thank you, Administrator, and if I might, 
before I proceed to my questions, since this is likely to be 
the last of the budget hearings for this subcommittee, I just 
wanted to recognize my friend and colleague and our Full 
Committee Chairman who for decades has served as either the 
Chair or Ranking of this subcommittee.
    I've just returned from a wonderful trip to NATO 
Headquarters in Brussels and to Davos, to the World Economic 
Forum conference, and was just reminded of the dramatic and 
lasting impact that Chairman Leahy has had in his role over 
decades, the high regard in which he's held by our leaders 
around Europe and around the world and wanted to thank him for 
his leadership of this subcommittee.
    He has been inseparable from Tim Rieser for 33, I think, 
years on this subcommittee, as well, and Tim, from the very 
first trip I got to take with both of you to Colombia and Haiti 
and Cuba, I have been moved and impressed by the impact that 
you've had.
    So please know how grateful all of us are to your 
dedication of a lifetime of service to making a difference in 
the world.
    Senator Graham. May I add a few comments?
    Senator Coons. Please add a few comments, if you will.
    Senator Graham. And I compliment you. Well, I hope not to 
ruin your reputation in Vermont, but I consider you a friend. 
That probably went down 20 points there.
    So what Chris said is true. I've gone all over the world 
and Senator Leahy's a known figure in terms of the United 
States Senate. When he speaks people listen. Tim Rieser and 
Senator Leahy have done a heck of a job affecting people's 
lives through this subcommittee.
    Compared to our budget, a small amount of money, but I 
daresay I've never seen a better bang for the buck in terms of 
improving people's lives and making the world more stable than 
this subcommittee, and it's been our harbinger of 
bipartisanship. I know Senator McConnell worked with Senator 
Leahy a very long time.
    I've had that pleasure and I just want to echo what Senator 
Coons said. This has been a delight to be part of this 
subcommittee. Senator Leahy, you have much to be proud of. Tim, 
you've worked hard for a long period of time and I'm sad to see 
it end. We still got months to go here, but this will probably 
be the last budget cycle.
    As Senator Coons said, it's an appropriate time to say 
thank you in a bipartisan fashion for decades of service to 
your community and the world, and the same goes for Tim.
    Senator Leahy. Mr. Chair, if I might just take a moment, I 
appreciate the comments from both of you. I've worked with both 
of you. We have traveled around the world I think a number of 
times.
    Senator Graham and I, whether I was Chair or he was Chair, 
the same with Senator McConnell, whether he was Chair or I was 
Chair, we passed the Foreign Ops bill virtually unanimously.
    Senator Coons, who was greeted by more heads of State than 
I could keep track of when we were at Davos and I sat quietly 
holding his briefcase for him, but we'll do the same thing.
    I think we're most effective in what we do if we do show 
the rest of the world that two parties can work together, and I 
especially wanted to be here, of course, with Administrator 
Power. I've known the Ambassador, the Administrator Power for 
years and years, and she forgives me for only being half Irish, 
but I applaud her for what she's done.
    So thank you both.
    Senator Coons. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Administrator, as we talked about beforehand, unfortunately 
we are in a series of votes. So you will see members come and 
go.
    Let me, if I might, just start by thanking you for your 
dedication over decades as a journalist, as a diplomat, as an 
administrator to upholding the very best of American values.
    As I think was the case with my dear friend, the late 
Secretary Madeline Albright, it is so often those who come to 
America from other places in the world initially who believe in 
us even more than we believe in ourselves and who help the 
United States to live up to its greatest aspirations and 
standards.
    As you mentioned in your comments, your opening remarks, we 
have an opportunity here to demonstrate to dozens of countries 
around the world that we're a reliable partner, but in both 
COVID and in hunger relief we are missing that moment as of 
right now.
    We just delivered a $40 billion supplemental, most of which 
is dedicated to Ukraine directly or indirectly.
    If you would just speak for a moment to how much of that is 
being delivered through partnerships with local organizations 
in Ukraine, how much are you constrained and how much are you 
able to deliver sort of flexible, adaptable responses, 
particularly in an environment like Ukraine where there's lots 
of potential partners on the ground, and what mechanisms are in 
place in terms of auditing and tracking to ensure that aid to 
Ukraine is being spent effectively?
    Ms. Power. Thank you. Well, you'll forgive me if I add my 
voice to the voices paying tribute to Senator Leahy and Senator 
Rieser. The two of you are just synonymous with this Committee, 
with the securing of resources for things that matter out in 
the world for vulnerable people, just the ethic behind your 
respective dedication is just--it's the stuff of legend, both 
of you, and it's been really, really even moving to watch you 
over the years--sorry--because I won't get to see them again in 
this setting, but you just both, you care so much, you care so 
much.
    Senator Coons. As so clearly you do.
    Ms. Power. Well, I do, but I also care about these guys.
    To be very specific, and I will come and speak in my normal 
mile-a-minute way when it comes to the substance of what you've 
asked, Senator, but the legacy of the Leahy law, Senator, the 
people will be vetting military units in a way they never would 
have for the rest of time because of that law. It matters so 
much.
    People around the world, the ability to get assistance if 
they have been injured because of unexploded ordnance or 
landmines specifically, it's because you all cared, because you 
invested the time, because you built the laws and the 
structures and those are going to be here forevermore.
    I think less, you know, sort of easy to conquertize the 
number of NGOs that have received support, whether it's a 
crack, you know, anti-corruption NGO or, you know, some local 
media or people who are tracking civilian casualties, there's 
so many non-governmental actors around the world who got 
support because you all embedded support for those programs and 
mobilized bipartisan support for it, and I really again credit 
Senator Graham and other Republicans on the Committee for 
supporting that over the years.
    But what's so amazing is the lasting effect of that, its' 
just the ripple effects because so many of the people who work 
for and with or are trained by those NGOs go on to serve in 
Parliament or to become heads of state and that legacy is going 
to be something again that is felt for generations to come.
    So sorry to get a little extra Irish on you there, Senator, 
but it's extremely moving and there's no tribute that can 
really do justice, I think, to your impact as Chairman, your 
impact as a Senator, and that of Tim, who I don't know what I'm 
going to do when I have no one to call at 3 in the morning, you 
know, still working in his office, you know, other staff. Paul, 
I'm going to have to be able to find you. We've got to keep 
Rieser hours. But, anyway, very grateful to you.
    Senator Leahy. Thank you.
    Ms. Power. Thank you. Okay. On the substance, you put your 
fingers, Mr. Chairman, on a challenge and we've got to get the 
right balance here and the balance is between wanting to move 
quickly, wanting to move with proper safeguards in place, 
wanting to be able to scale, and so that leads you very quickly 
to, for example, the very large contributions we've made to the 
World Food Program, UNICEF, the International Organization of 
Migration that's working a lot of the protection issues and 
inside Ukraine and beyond, but we do also want to make sure 
that the assistance we provide puts the country in a stronger 
position in the medium and long term.
    And so what we are seeking to do in the humanitarian domain 
is diversify our partner base and that is likely to include 
several consortia where we work through an international non-
governmental organization and the first of these consortia have 
already been agreed upon with Mercy Corps and where they then 
provide sub-grants to local organizations, Ukrainian 
organizations that are going to be there for the test of time.
    The first of those is about a $120 billion, so again not 
comparable to what we're at the present funneling through World 
Food Program, but even World Food Program and other UN 
organizations are themselves working with local organizations 
much more than they have traditionally in the theaters in which 
they operate.
    So that's on humanitarian. I think, though, to distinguish 
the other significant assistance that has been provided, there 
is a large sum for direct budget support, as you well know, and 
that is because Ukrainian authorities own burn rate in terms of 
keeping their State going, keeping their country going is about 
$5 billion a month.
    So we've already provided $500 million through the World 
Bank, the World Bank Trust Fund. There will be an additional 
$500 million passing through there and then with the 
supplemental $7.5 billion on top of that. It's unclear exactly 
what the vehicle is going to be for the second supplemental 
direct budget support sum which is significant but likely the 
World Bank or a mechanism like it and there you have the 
progress reports, I think it's written into law that every 90 
days the Secretary or I need to be reporting on how the 
Ukrainians are spending that money.
    The capacity to audit is, of course, there and will need to 
be done vigilantly. The World Bank is used to operating in 
environments like this, and then we have our developing 
programming which is also going to be in part to strengthen 
Ukrainian actors to do anti-corruption work so that they can 
monitor our assistance.
    So again I think across the board we have to be thinking in 
the short term how do we meet the needs in the here and now, 
but how do we leave Ukrainian civil society, the Ukrainian 
Government, and the country stronger by virtue of the 
assistance that's flowing in, not something that vacates when, 
for example, an international organization departs which we 
hope Ukraine is in a position to have that happen sooner rather 
than later with the onset of eventual peace.
    Senator Coons. It does seem, to your last comment there, it 
does seem premature now to be talking about reconstruction, but 
at the conference the Chairman and I were just at, there was 
repeated talk by Swiss leaders about their hosting of a 
conference later this summer, I think in Lugano, if I'm not 
mistaken, to begin planning for rebuilding and reconstruction. 
Virtually every European leader, head of state that we talked 
to made some reference to the Marshall Plan which is, you know, 
a generation where even two generations later still remember it 
as a landmark investment by the United States in stability and 
security.
    What sort of planning is underway for reconstruction 
hopefully after this war concludes successfully with victory, 
and what role would USAID play in planning or executing that 
reconstruction, and what kind of budget planning should we be 
doing around the scale of the need for reconstruction?
    Ms. Power. Thank you. First, let me say that USAID just in 
the last week has been able to deploy our Mission Director back 
in Kyiv at the newly-opened Embassy and why do I mention that 
in the context of your question? Because it's going to be 
incredibly important as the Ukrainians transition from 
humanitarian emergency to development, which will include 
reconstruction but also reconstruction will happen alongside 
development, that we have a presence there to be working hand-
in-glove with the Ukrainians and so we have our local staff, of 
course, our Ukrainian staff, many of whom never left Ukraine, 
but those who left Kyiv, many have returned, but that presence 
is going to be a very important piece of thinking through what 
the appropriate structure for the U.S. Government is going to 
be as it relates to the massive reconstruction task ahead.
    Second, this is going to be Ukrainian-led, Ukrainian-
scoped, and right now USAID's role both in presence and 
virtually has been to support the Ukrainian Prime Minister's 
Office and the variety of Ministries that have themselves been 
tasked to develop reconstruction plans alongside their current 
programming plans.
    So, for example, I spoke a couple weeks ago to the Health 
Minister who is simultaneously dealing with the fact that 
hundreds of health facilities have either been destroyed or 
damaged and how do you provide medical care in such 
circumstances. How do you now train your physicians in trauma 
and your psychologists and psychiatrists in, you know, PTSD 
associated with conflict, and so the real-time medical and 
psychological, psychosocial needs and then also developing a 
plan to be able to present to donors about what the 
reconstruction of those medical facilities and how do you, to 
coin a phrase, build back better, you know, how can the medical 
facilities brought back online, you know, take advantage of 
advances in medicine and in energy efficiency and everything.
    So each of the Ministries is itself embarked upon that 
process and our mission right now is to support them and to 
scope.
    I think the third point I'd make is just the centrality of 
the international financial institutions because, you know, I 
don't think USAID would be budgeted, you know, to manage what 
could be eventually a trillion dollar reconstruction task, but 
what you'll have are the European Bank for Reconstruction 
Development has already announced its intention, I think, to 
lead on this and the World Bank and other international 
financial institutions, of course,----
    Senator Coons. I'm almost out of time. Before I yield to 
the Full Committee Chairman, if I might, and, by the way, on 
that last point, the IMF, the Head of the IMF and I spoke 
repeatedly about SDRs and their potential as a way to help 
rebuild the financial capabilities of the Ukrainian state.
    Senator Graham and I are continuing to work to get through 
the Foreign Relations Committee an authorizing bill, the 
Democracy in the 21st Century Act, that creates a framework and 
authorizes new resources to counter authoritarian tactics, 
particularly disinformation, election interference, digital 
authoritarianism.
    Have you had any chance to review that? Do you have any 
input for me on that and its potential constructive role in 
modernizing the democracy toolkit for AID?
    Ms. Power. Thank you. First of all, I think that the 
President's Democracy Summit and the initiatives that President 
Biden rolled out in December, the summit that is to be followed 
a year hence with a second summit so we can drive action in 
between, I think a lot of the ideas that you saw rolled out 
there again grew out of the collaboration that I referred to 
earlier where our teams were in touch trying to take a fresh 
look at the Democracy Promotion Portfolio that, you know, had 
adapted over time here and there but maybe wasn't as fit for 
purpose as IO think we need right now and so I think that's 
reflected both in your bill, in the emphasis on everything from 
election security and the fight against disinformation and the 
importance of having open digital infrastructure to the 
emphasis on corruption programming, anti-corruption 
programming, which is the Achilles heel of the undemocratic 
forces for sure globally.
    You will see reflected in our budget sort of in parallel I 
think to your bill requests for stand-alone resources for anti-
corruption programming which I think again is a central pillar 
of this effort.
    But, you know, again, the democracy promotion community, 
you know, the efforts that we have made, I think, definitely 
need to pivot and recognize the gravity and the modern nature 
of the threats to democracy, and I think that's what your bill 
attempts to do. That's what the President's Democratic Renewal 
Initiative does, as well.
    Senator Coons. Thank you. I look forward to working with 
you more closely on that.
    My understanding is I'm going to depart to vote. The 
Ranking Member will return. Staff tells me that Senator Durbin 
will act as the Chair in my brief absence and is going to 
question next. Is that our understanding?
    Senator Durbin. Sure. Why not?
    Senator Coons. Thank you.
    Senator Durbin. Welcome. I'm concerned about Haiti. We've 
spoken about it before. I don't know if you've had time to read 
that lengthy series in the New York Times about the legacy of 
death and ransom and the treatment of the West in Haiti, but 
it's a heartbreaking history of the country which tried to 
emerge out of slavery and still is burdened by it.
    It appears that developing a functioning government in that 
country is a challenge. How do you see it?
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator, and thanks for always caring 
about Haiti, and it does feel like the world's attention kind 
of flows in when there's some big event, like an earthquake or 
the recent case of the assassination of the President.
    USAID is there day-in/day-out, but I have to say that the 
political stalemate coupled with the spiraling violence, 
kidnappings, the gains that the gangs have made has made it 
increasingly difficult for us to do our work. I think we still 
have partners who are out and about who are willing every day 
to brave those risks, whether in the health space, in 
education, or in, you know, attempting to do youth programming, 
to attract people so that they aren't drawn to gangs, but it is 
increasingly challenging.
    I think with an emphasis on security as foundational for 
development with our State Department colleagues increasing 
their support for the Haitian National Police, we are trying to 
help young people with new citizen security programming. You'll 
see that reflected I think in our--I think it's a $245 million 
budget request for USAID-managed resources in Haiti, and trying 
to apply lessons in the violence reduction space from Central 
American countries and elsewhere in the Caribbean to Haiti.
    I think the biggest challenge, as you know, on the 
political front is how can a broad and inclusive dialogue 
actually give rise to elections that are deemed broadly free 
and fair and there again the political process does not seem to 
be advancing in the way that we seek.
    Senator Durbin. I say it in the most complimentary terms, 
but NGO assistance in that country seems like a free-for-all. 
There doesn't seem to be any governmental coordination, 
country-wide coordination. Tell me I'm wrong.
    Ms. Power. Well, I think the development gains in Haiti are 
significant, for example, in the health space. So, you know, 
think of Paul Farmer and Partners in Health, right. That's an 
NGO. That is an incredibly effective investment in resources 
for just every individual who is touched by being provided with 
quality health care but also the investments made in training, 
you know, of Haitian medical students and physicians so they go 
on to provide support elsewhere.
    So, you know, I think that the challenge is that whether 
it's an NGO or an international organization, like a UN partner 
and they're, of course, very active in Haiti, as well, having 
drawn down the large peacekeeping presence that you and I know 
well from a decade ago, if you don't have political leadership 
willing to come together to forge compromise, to get the 
country back in a cycle in which people get to hold their 
leaders accountable at the ballot box and can't get a grip on 
the security situation in part because of rivalries among 
politicians, you know, it's very, very challenging, but again I 
think we're not asking for resources that are going to be, you 
know, thrown into the wind. I think sector by sector, we are 
showing a return on the investment in the socioeconomic realm 
but meanwhile again these broader structural dynamics have to 
be addressed by the leadership.
    Senator Durbin. Are you familiar with Philippine Senator 
Leila de Lima?
    Ms. Power. I am. I wrote something about her in Time 
Magazine. She was one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential 
People a few years ago.
    Senator Durbin. Been in prison 5 years. Duarte's' vengeance 
against her politically, now a new regime on the way. Is there 
anything more we can be doing to help her?
    Ms. Power. Well, I hesitate to give you advice on political 
prisoners, Senator, since you and your team have gotten, you 
know, innumerable people out of jail just by your 
relentlessness.
    I think with the new government that itself, you know, 
isn't/wasn't invested in the prior decision to arrest Madam de 
Lima. You know, it seems like a very good occasion to make a 
diplomatic push and I think the ones that are the most 
effective are Executive and Legislative Branches together 
operating in unison. So we can follow up on that.
    Senator Durbin. Can I close by telling you that I succeeded 
a man you knew, Paul Simon, and he made it clear throughout his 
life and his political life he didn't want anything named after 
him. He thought that was just an exercise in vanity and so the 
only thing I could think to do in his name was Water for the 
World, Water for the Poor, and we have, we think, through USAID 
and the leadership under many Presidents since he's been gone 
really established not only water but sanitation in some of the 
areas of the world that desperately needed it the most.
    USAID has been a fabulous partner in that effort. I thank 
you for that.
    I also say there's a little project that is emanating from 
a town that I'm honored to present called Chicago providing 
bicycles to Africa, mobility opportunities that change, 
transform lives, and sometimes the little things are the big 
things, water, sanitation, basic mobility. It just gives people 
a chance.
    USAID is the agency I look to when I think of those ideas. 
So thank you for your cooperation in that.
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator, and just know that the Water 
for the World Act and our Water Strategy, all of that has to be 
tapped now in light of the food crisis gripping much of Africa, 
many parts of the world, and Feed the Future and the next 
incarnation of that, you know, integrates water policy, water 
management into USAID programming.
    So there's dedicated water and sanitation programming and 
then there's the integration, I think, of the spirit of Paul 
Simon and that piece of law into a lot of our other 
programming.
    Senator Durbin. Thanks.
    Ms. Power. Thank you.
    Senator Durbin. Pat.
    Senator Leahy. Thank you very much, and again, 
Administrator, I thank you for the kind words and also the kind 
words for my boss, Tim Rieser.
    As you've probably often heard me say, we Senators are 
merely constitutional impediments to the staff. They do all the 
work.
    Senator Durbin mentioned the Haiti article. I know as I 
read that article I was just taken with one--I mean, you know 
this as somebody who's written such definitive things that the 
amount of work that went into going back through these almost 
indecipherable paper records of banks and others that didn't 
exist and yet they did and they found them. It's amazing the 
complicity of the French Government and the U.S. Government.
    I've been there to Haiti a number of times. Even my wife 
Marcelle's a medical-surgical nurse, she's gone into surgeries 
and other hospitals and talked with the people and in French, I 
might say, but I also looked at the last earthquake and went 
down there. We used the Leahy War Victims Fund because of the 
number of amputations that had to happen so that you could then 
give an artificial limb to a young boy who looked so much like 
one of our grandchildren so he could walk again.
    I saw what our people did and tried to help, but, you know, 
the others came from around the world to help. I'll never 
forget the orthopedic surgeon came at his own expense from 
Brussels and he was going to come there for a month, it had 
been now several months, and he'd been helping and I was 
speaking with him and I told him in French how much I 
appreciated what he did. I'll never forget, he turned to me and 
just grabbed my arms, he says, ``Senator, for the children, for 
the children, for the children.''
    I mean, that's the whole thing. I know people like Sean 
Penn who came down there as a volunteer and getting people 
together and cleaning up things. I did see others in the 
country, aid groups concerned about what kind of an issue being 
there, they have to get around it. I was more concerned of what 
they were doing to help.
    But since then I've seen with all the work that AID and 
everybody else that I just see this getting worse and worse, 
the assassination of the last president obviously and now the 
bribes and everything else to help people. It just is so awful 
to see that, but you also see others around the world and now 
we look at COVID. It wasn't very long ago, nobody knew what 
COVID was. Now it's killed more than a million Americans, 15 
million more around the world, going to infect another 700,000 
Americans.
    A few months ago almost no one believed that Russia would 
seek to re-establish control over the country of Ukraine, 44 
million people. They've decimated whole cities, bombed 
hospitals and schools, markets, machine-gunned families walking 
down the street.
    Then you have drought and other conflicts in Africa and 
none of these articles talk about the fact that USAID has to 
respond to almost every one of these because they do have 
direct consequences on not only the people there but the 
Americans there.
    The President has asked for a 6 percent increase. That's 
billions of dollars short of what Senators of both parties are 
going to request from this subcommittee. I mention that because 
I've been urging all the subcommittee Chairs and I know Senator 
Coons works as hard as anybody to try to get the bills 
together.
    I'm hoping people will move quickly to pass all our 
appropriations bills. You're not helped by a continuing 
resolution. No other part of government is.
    So let me just mention a couple things that you have to do 
here and there where you're working, prevent famine, stop COVID 
from spreading, prepare for the next pandemic, create 
opportunities for Central Americans so they don't become 
migrants, help countries cope with climate change.So, you know, 
you've got a full day's work there on those, but do you have 
enough resources? Do you need more resources? Do you have the 
kind of partners you need in foreign governments? I mean, how 
do you deal with this?
    Ms. Power. Thank you. There's a lot there. The only thing 
worse than having to deal with that set of converging crises is 
to imagine doing so without you, Senator, and without Tim 
Rieser here to partner with. So I will say that's an additional 
compounding factor here in this perfect storm.
    I guess I'd just say one thing. First, your point at the 
end about partners, do you have partners, I think that is 
critical. You know, we view development, we have to view it as 
three legs on the stool. This is the security piece, this is 
the security of citizens. We were just talking about Haiti and 
the impossibility for so many Haitians even to get from one 
side of town to the next or even to get to school for fear of 
kidnapping, even our own staff at the Embassy, you know, just 
gripped with this physical anxiety, and so baseline countries 
need to have security.
    The Ukrainian people lack it because Putin's decided to 
wreak havoc on them and their lives.
    Then there's the economic development piece which, you 
know, is where that's USAID's wheelhouse. You know, how do we 
spur economic growth? How do we provide loan guarantees to 
small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs? How do we provide micro 
finance to women, you know, which can completely transform 
communities and families?
    But the economic and the security piece and then the third 
piece is governance and the Rule of Law and respect for human 
rights and accountability and honestly the lapse over these 
last years in so many places in this third domain, as well, you 
know, the economics hit by COVID, hit by climate disasters and 
so forth, security, we see more and more State weakness, more 
and more State fragility.
    Thanks to you all for the Global Fragility Act and the 
resources around conflict prevention, but this is why the 
emphasis on democracy and governance is so important, too, 
because we need to have partners with whom we can work, and 
we've seen unfortunately in countries like El Salvador and 
Guatemala where we're doing really important programming in the 
communities to reduce violence, to provide support for people 
who suffer gender-based violence, to try to spur economic 
growth even against the backdrop of a pandemic, but it's really 
challenging when we go to the private sector and want to draw 
investment to those countries and are reminded about, you know, 
how the government has, you know, appointed an attorney general 
that herself has shut down investigation, prosecution of 
corruption cases, taken away the security details of judges 
that are investigating really sensitive cases.
    I mean, that makes it very challenging and so I just think 
for you as a Committee and for us as an agency to somehow be 
getting the right balance between our investments in economics, 
our investments in crime reduction and physical security, and 
other agencies do that in great measure, and then governance 
and the Rule of Law and to note that it's no coincidence that a 
less democratic world is a less stable world and that's what 
we're dealing with now.
    Senator Leahy. Let me give one example of a conundrum and I 
don't know what the answer is. After the Vietnam War, we kept 
basically a trade embargo against Vietnam for 20 years. Two of 
our good friends, John Kerry and John McCain, urged us to move 
forward and I applaud President George H.W. Bush who worked 
with them and we brought the Leahy War Victims Fund there and a 
lot of other parts of government fully opened up and, as you 
know, Vietnam today is a lot different than it was a generation 
ago.
    Go to the Fulbright School and ask a sophomore, a young 
woman who, when she was 10 years old, did not speak English and 
was learning it through our educational programs. I asked her a 
question. She said, well, when you stop to think about it, that 
would be indicative of, and off we went.
    You know, but now we've frozen billions of dollars for many 
good reasons in Afghanistan but the economy is collapsing 
there. Famine's a possibility. Contrary to what the Taliban 
says, girls aren't allowed to go to school I think past the 
fifth or sixth grade, I believe.
    I mean, what can we do with some of that frozen money to 
help stop famine and help improve the situation for women and 
girls and not just have it go in the hands of the Taliban or is 
there any way?
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator. I think our emphasis so far 
has been very much on flood the zone with humanitarian 
assistance and, you know, could really still be and certainly 
starting about 6 months ago looked as though it really may well 
become the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time.
    The UN Appeal for Afghanistan was the largest for any 
country in the entire history of UN appeals which speaks to the 
level of need. So we have contributed half a billion dollars 
since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. I was heartened 
because we really need other donors to step up and for us to be 
able to leverage our funding to get other donors to step up. 
There was a March Donors Conference where there were pledges of 
2.4 billion and that'll go to organizations, like the World 
Food Program and others, who are meeting immediate acute food 
needs.
    But at the same time, we are managing to do some 
development work. Again, the work that we do cannot benefit the 
Taliban. So we've needed to come up with work-arounds. I think 
we've been in close consultation with you and your teams about 
them and so, you know, our budget request is coming to you now 
requesting, I think, $71 million in agricultural funding that 
we think we can distribute to farmers, including getting seeds 
and inputs to them to deal with this particularly challenging 
time accessing fertilizer and so forth, $81 million in economic 
growth where it's again those entrepreneurs who are out and 
about, and then something we call have an interest in $61 
million in health and continuing vaccination drives and other 
health programming, you know, inside Afghanistan.
    But my bigger sort of response beyond what we as a 
government are doing, what we can get other donors to do, given 
the core point that the Taliban, you know, tragically is in 
charge of the country, is that the economy is in free-fall, you 
know. It is people in charge who don't know how to manage the 
economy and the reserves, some portion of them, as you know, 
have been set aside for the people of Afghanistan. The State 
Department and Treasury Department are in discussions about how 
the Central Bank of Afghanistan can be strengthened but also 
how it can be ensured that it is independent of the Taliban 
because fundamentally what the country needs is markets. It 
needs liquidity. It needs those reserves to be accessed but it 
just needs a functioning economy or we will be in whack-a-mole, 
you know, the sort of stopgap humanitarian business and there's 
no amount of humanitarian assistance that is going to be able 
to meet the needs indefinitely of a people who are that 
vulnerable and an economy that is that broken.
    Senator Leahy. And needs to allow all their young people to 
have an education, men and women.
    I have a vote. I'm going to leave and submit other 
questions for the record, if I might, but again I appreciate 
your kind comments and the very kind comments of Senator Coons 
and Senator Graham.
    Senator Coons. Well deserved. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Graham.
    Senator Graham. Thank you very much.
    So let's just take a quick trip around the world. There are 
27 nations in the European Union. There are 30 countries in 
NATO. I'm not asking for this today, but on my side, I want to 
make sure that the Republican Party is out there leading, 
working with other nations to build up systems to keep all of 
us safe, keep people fed that need to be fed and with better 
health care so that countries don't collapse and we wind up 
having to pay the price of that collapse.
    You have counterparts in virtually every one of those 
nations, is that correct?
    Ms. Power. The substantial donors specifically.
    Senator Graham. Yes.
    Ms. Power. Foreign ministers often take the task.
    Senator Graham. Can you do me a favor? You don't have to do 
it today, but give me some indication of what other countries 
are doing in comparison to us because when David Beasley from 
the World Food Program was here, he said that Saudi Arabia had 
given them like $11 million and the UAE was zero. So that stood 
out to me.
    I try to tell the taxpayers back home that you pay now, you 
pay later in these areas. Let's get in on the ground, shape 
events, rather than being overwhelmed by them, but there's also 
a legitimate concern by all Americans that are we doing this by 
ourselves. So we've got to make the case that other nations are 
helping and when they're not, we got to make them help. Does 
that make sense to you?
    Ms. Power. It does.
    Senator Graham. Okay. All right. So we'll go to work on 
that, Mr. Chairman, and see if we can come up with some dynamic 
of how parts of the developed democracy world is doing compared 
to us.
    We did a push for a global fund for food security. Does 
that make sense to you?
    Ms. Power. I think more resources for food security make 
sense. We should talk about the modalities, just particularly 
given some, I think, important positive developments that align 
with your first question/comment, like the World Bank setting 
up a $30 billion Resilience and Solidarity Fund, the modalities 
in which we're still digging into to understand how that's 
going to be used.
    So something that coordinates bilateral donor assistance, 
the multilateral development banks, both regional and global, 
like the World Bank, could be very important.
    Thank you.
    Senator Graham. Okay. Well, I want to be helpful there. I 
want to let the taxpayer know that we're pushing other 
countries to do more when they can do more and should do more, 
and we'll say thank you to those who are doing their part and 
then some.
    We sent a letter to you 4 months ago, myself and Senator 
Risch, regarding USAID's efforts to hunt for and research novel 
viruses, including in China. We haven't gotten a response. Can 
you please answer our letter?
    Ms. Power. Yes.
    Senator Graham. Okay. Good. Now the bottom line for me 
about Afghanistan is can you think of a scenario of where we 
help the Central Bank of Afghanistan without the Taliban being 
benefitted?
    Ms. Power. Senator, right now I certainly see grounds for 
skepticism, given that the Central Bank of Afghanistan is run 
by a Taliban Minister,----
    Senator Graham. Right.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. But at the same time with the 
country's economy unraveling, with the Central Bank for nay 
country----
    Senator Graham. Was that a predictable consequence of our 
withdrawal?
    Ms. Power. Was what a predictable consequence?
    Senator Graham. That the country would fall apart under 
Taliban control.
    Ms. Power. Well, I think that there were views that have 
been talked about up here that the Afghan forces would be able 
to withstand----
    Senator Graham. We have a list of the pluses and minuses. 
One of the minuses had to be that the Taliban get in charge and 
the country would go to hell in a handcart.
    Ms. Power. I think I can't speak for the President here 
today, but I think,----
    Senator Graham. I mean,----
    Ms. Power [continuing]. You know,----
    Senator Graham [continuing]. From your lane, were you 
worried about that if we----
    Ms. Power. I think all of us who care about the Afghan 
people, of course, were worried about the consequences that 
would ensue, you know, with any----
    Senator Graham. Are you surprised the Taliban are not 
letting girls go to school in a robust way?
    Ms. Power. Well, let me just say that am I surprised 
compared to what I thought of the Taliban before they took 
power? Of course not. That's their world view. That's their 
ideology. They made no secret of that. Am I surprised? I'm not 
at all surprised when they break their word, but they had in 
fact committed to work with UNICEF and other international 
actors to allow donors to bypass the Education Ministry to be 
able to support girls to be able to be in school and so, as you 
know, they went back on a commitment that they had made and 
that we thought we were going to be able to actually continue--
--
    Senator Graham. So here's the question.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. To support girls in school.
    Senator Graham. Given their history, I'm not surprised and 
I share your concern about the Afghan people. They're living in 
hell. So if you can find a way to convince me of how we can get 
outside organizations effectively working in Afghanistan to 
keep people from starving, I'd be willing to help.
    Finally, when we look at what's on the horizon through the 
end of this year going into the next, I hate to be a Debby 
downer here, but 40 countries rely upon to 50 percent of the 
grain supply that comes from Ukraine and most of them are in 
developing world. I don't see the war in Ukraine ending any 
time soon. Famines have hit Africa in unprecedented levels. Are 
we ready for this?
    We've had a supplemental, but how do we deal with this? 
What's your advice to this Committee because everybody doesn't 
want to spend any more money than we have to, but I just don't 
see a way out of dealing with this, Mr. Chairman, without 
putting some resources in the pipeline.
    I would end with this. America's national security 
interests are well served when there's a certain amount of 
stability in the world, but we can't do it by ourselves. Will 
you pledge to this Committee not only to give us sound advice 
about how we can do more efficiently, save some money in other 
places, but also how we can push the world to do their part? 
What do you see for the next year?
    Ms. Power. Well, let me say this, Senator. First, just 
underscoring the premise of your question which is according to 
the World Bank, 10 million people are thrust into poverty for 
every 1 percent increase in food prices and food prices are 
already up 34 percent but, you know, given Putin's blockade of 
the grains and sunflower oil and other oils coming out of 
Ukraine, you know, there's no guarantee that that has capped.
    So I'm a former UN ambassador. I very much share the 
predicate for your whole kind of line of inquiry which is we 
need to leverage what we do to get other countries to do more.
    I do think that the Europeans have stepped up both in terms 
of, you know, opening their doors and hearts and homes and 
resources to Ukrainians who've crossed into Europe. 
Unfortunately, though, and I'm not sure how closely everybody 
is tracking this, in many European budgetary processes the 
resources to help Ukrainian refugees are coming out of overseas 
development assistance, and so if you combine that with the 
cuts that we've seen from the United Kingdom over the last year 
and what we know are going to be the demands inside Ukraine 
around reconstruction but also just around tending to the acute 
needs of people who are still under siege and who've been 
displaced, I worry about a shrinking pie and it places a 
premium on getting new donors or donors or who have 
contributed.
    Saudi Arabia was contributing, was increasing steadily its 
contributions every year to humanitarian assistance and then 
that tapered off and now has dropped. They have made 
substantial new announcements for Yemen which is very useful 
because there's so many needs in so many places, and so, you 
know, particular countries are going to help particular parts 
of the world that they maybe feel a closer attachment to, but 
what everyone needs to do is to do what you have done which is 
to recognize that we're in an extra budgetary moment.
    You know, if we're just, you know, taking money out of our 
Food Security Program in order to, you know, support energy 
diversification so that people can wean themselves off 
dependence on Putin's energy, that's not going to work.
    You know, if we are not supporting journalists who are 
uncovering the crimes and corruption of their leaders, that's a 
big loss because this is a moment in which when people feel the 
needs that they are feeling, they have a right to democratic 
accountability and we should be supporting that aspiration that 
they have.
    So, you know, everything is connected to everything else 
and we can't--I know you alluded to this in your opening 
comment, Senator. I wasn't sure exactly what you meant, but it 
would be a huge missed opportunity for the United States to 
give up also on the incredibly effective COVID-19 work that we 
have been doing.
    I mean, from your travels you must see the gratitude, the 
fact that our vaccines and our PPE and our therapeutics and 
tests don't come with strings attached. You know, they're not 
in exchange for, you know, some country doing this back or 
taking on some debt to us. You know, these are donations. These 
come out of generosity and compassion and self-interests of the 
American people. People understand that connection.
    But, you know, to emphasize food security and give up on 
COVID, that can't be an option, right, given that the food 
security crisis predated Russia's invasion of Ukraine in part 
because of what COVID has done to supply chains around the 
world.
    Senator Graham. Just one quick question. I got to go. 
What's the vaccination rate in Africa? Do you know?
    Ms. Power. Excuse me. It's around 17 percent.
    Senator Graham. Yes. So we all agree that it's low, but I 
don't see it changing much for a variety of factors.
    One thing that people on our side of the aisle think about, 
Mr. Chairman, is therapeutics, is to keep people out of 
hospital, get them well as quick as possible. I hope that this 
combination that we're talking about for COVID would look at 
therapeutics.
    Senator Coons. If I could follow up on that, Madam 
Administrator, before my colleague leaves, in terms of the 
timing of additional funding around COVID, both for 
therapeutics and for finishing the delivery of vaccines we've 
already produced, already been delivered, what's the difference 
if there's an additional several billion dollars for COVID 
relief for therapeutics and for vaccines? What's the difference 
between that happening in June versus September versus 
December?
    Ms. Power. Well, Senator Graham, I know you have to go, but 
I hear you on the low vaccination rates, but I don't agree that 
we can afford to embrace a fatalism around the ability to 
dramatically lower infection, hospitalization, and death rates, 
and I actually think we started this initiative called Global 
VAX with your support in December which was aiming to put shots 
in arms, not just, you know, COVAX was delivering the vaccines 
that the American people donated generously.
    You know, we've committed 1.2 billion vaccines in total and 
gotten 500 million out there, but it turned out that once the 
vaccines began flowing the best-laid plans that many countries 
had for vaccine delivery were overcome by Russian 
disinformation, by cold chain challenges, by the absence of 
accessibility for pop-up clinics, and so we have met those gaps 
in the infrastructure in the countries that we've been able to 
afford to provide delivery support to and that was the Global 
VAX Initiative.
    To your question, Senator Coons, I think right now we are 
continuing the work in the 11 surge countries and we are seeing 
the results. I mean, you're seeing vaccine rates of eligible 
adults that were 18 percent in December in a country like Cote 
d'Ivoire up to now 38 percent of eligible adults. So I could go 
country by country where we are surging resources. It is 
working.
    To your question, we will not be able to expand that to 
some of the countries that are in Africa that are under 10 
percent and where we have begun to plan with those countries to 
receive new resources to train health workers or to get them to 
be able to work overtime or to have the pop-up clinics but nor 
will we have the resources for what Senator Graham was talking 
about which is therapeutics and an ability to try to wrestle to 
tame COVID when you have an outbreak and we know there will be 
more outbreaks going forward.
    I think if we were to -- in a sense what you would see is 
our vaccination drive ground to a halt----
    Senator Coons. Right.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. In around August of this year if 
that $5 billion supplemental is not appropriated, you know, in 
the next month or two.
    Senator Coons. If we could, I'm expecting one more Senator 
and then I have a 4:15 event at the White House I'm trying to 
get to, just a few quick back and forth here if we could.
    The DFC's role in supporting regional vaccine 
manufacturing, do you see that as holding promise and being 
something that we can possibly stand up and make more 
effective?
    You've got a request for 6.5 billion in 5 years in 
mandatory spending for global pandemic preparedness. What are 
the key elements of that?
    And then to what extent do you think we can work together 
to craft more flexible and sustainable public/private 
partnerships around hunger, pandemics, and conservation?
    I'm happy to repeat those. Let's go one at a time.
    Ms. Power. Okay.
    Senator Coons. The DFC has taken on a role in helping 
finance regional vaccine manufacturing. So, for example, in 
South Africa, there's another site there possibly developing in 
Kenya. Are you supporting those efforts and do you think in the 
long term boosting regional vaccine manufacturing is an 
important investment?
    Ms. Power. So in brief, we are working very closely with 
the DFC on this. I think that we would like to see more 
promising initiatives in the pipeline than we currently have. I 
think the next investment--USAID provided a grant funding for 
the Louis Pasteur Institute in Senegal which I think is 
probably next up where the African Development Bank, the World 
Bank, and now the DFC are also looking to come in.
    So, you know, I think it's important, particularly just as 
here attention has receded a little bit from COVID, that we 
think of vaccine manufacturing structurally, not just about 
this vaccine at this time but about the fact that 99 percent of 
Africa's vaccines even prior to the pandemic came from outside 
Africa and so there's a structural need.
    Senator Coons. Any input you can briefly give me on the 6.5 
billion 5 year mandatory? Like what would that accomplish? If I 
think about the things that you could do with more funding and 
that you won't be able to do if we don't get you full funding, 
providing predictable global pandemic surveillance and 
preparedness both for the public health workforce and for 
sustained resources would strike me as near the top of that 
list.
    Ms. Power. Indeed. What it boils down to is do we want to 
be in a position to detect viruses before they have become 
pandemics. You know, every country has some form of health 
infrastructure. Do we want it to be stronger or do we want it 
to be more fragile? We want it to be stronger. We want lab 
turnaround times to be shorter. We want communities to be 
educated on animal-to-human transitions, zoonotic diseases and 
the like.
    We want the ability to take samples and move them into some 
of our global health infrastructure at CDC or at NIH more 
quickly so that countermeasures can be developed sooner.
    So your question, it's a matter of taking the global health 
security foundation that we have in I think 10 countries and 
expanding it to an additional 25 and so we can show the good 
that we have done in the countries we are operating in the 
global health security space at this point and now we need to 
spread it and scale it because viruses aren't looking to see 
where we have a global health security program and where we 
don't. Viruses are doing what viruses do and we have to prevent 
them before they spread.
    Senator Coons. I look forward to a more detailed briefing 
as we go ahead with this year's process.
    Public/private partnerships, something that a number of 
colleagues have asked about, and I think you're getting a 
bipartisan letter led by Senator Warner. They're looking for 
flexibility in Ukraine in terms of delivering hunger relief.
    World Central Kitchens has been brought up to me a number 
of times as an example of the kind of partner that can flexibly 
respond to a rapidly-evolving humanitarian disaster, one of the 
things Senator Graham and I have talked about, and there was 
some funding in the fiscal year 2022 bill for this, supporting 
public/private partnerships for long-term conservation 
management in Africa.
    I wondered if you had any thoughts on the fiscal year 2023 
request for sustainable landscapes and for planning around 
wildlife conservation, wildlife trafficking, sustainable 
landscapes, and conservation on the continent.
    Ms. Power. Well, I can't resist saying something about 
World Central Kitchen with whom even though USAID is not a 
funder of World Central Kitchen and they have been wonderfully 
and appropriately successful in fundraising from private 
citizens and from companies and foundations, we work hand-in-
glove with them, but their ability to get to places, you know, 
where even, you know, the UN hasn't been able to get is really, 
really admirable and a tribute to their staff.
    They also procure locally and so we are partnering with 
them in terms of we have agricultural programs in Ukraine where 
we're trying to get seeds to farmers so they don't miss the 
planting season. Jose Andres is involved in discussions about 
granaries and how those granaries can get emptied so that more 
supplies can go in, and we've done just in brief a wonderful 
partnership with them whereby Moldova's apples, because we all 
want Moldova to succeed, tremendous leadership there in 
fighting corruption and building the Rule of Law, but Moldova's 
apples used to all go to Russia and Herzegovina now that's not 
happening and so what did World Central Kitchen do? They agreed 
to procure apples from Moldova, thereby helping the Moldova 
apple industry in order to feed people in Ukraine.
    So those kinds of--you know, it's not always about, you 
know, what kind of money does USAID contribute, you know, or 
leverage with the private sector, but sometimes it's just about 
knowing what a private sector actor's comparative advantage is 
in meeting a development or humanitarian challenge.
    On conservation, I believe there's already a public/private 
partnership of sorts underway between us, NASA, Unilever, and 
Google as it relates to land use forecasting, you know, and 
actually going to farmers with the data about how they can in 
the long run be advantaged by alternative uses of farmland, but 
I think there's much more we can do.
    Senator Coons. There is. Give me 2 minutes on workforce and 
the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. This bill increases your 
personnel. Something I've been concerned about is making sure 
that both the State Department and USAID have the resources to 
recruit, train, diversify, retain highly-qualified workforce.
    How important is it that you get the additional 260 million 
you're requesting for that purpose and what are the key 
challenges around your workforce?
    Ms. Power. It's critical. I mean, first of all, we have to 
move faster as an agency given the swirl of events and the 
urgency of all of these crises, and if you take a USAID 
contracting officer, they are contracting roughly three or four 
times the amount as a comparable DOD contracting officer 
because of the paucity of contracting officers and the 
attrition over time.
    We have the largest Foreign Service class in sometime that 
has just entered. It's also the most diverse class. So we're 
building out those numbers, but you also, Senator, have 
prioritized rightly, and one of your questions today spoke to 
this, the importance of working with local organizations so 
that our investments can be more sustainable over time.
    The increases that we've requested in operating expenses, a 
portion of which you granted in the 2022 Appropriations bill 
but we need more of, are also used to be in a position to in a 
sense mentor and help build capacity in local organizations so 
that they can be partners to USAID.
    So it's a front-end investment that will pay lasting 
dividends over time.
    Senator Coons. Thank you.
    While Senator Shaheen comes forward, my last question to 
you was about the African Leaders Summit. I had the chance to 
meet with a number of African heads of state who had 
participated in the one previous such summit we held now quite 
a few years ago and to be blunt, they're somewhat skeptical.
    I'd welcome any input you've got about what sorts of plans 
are being made and what kind of role USAID might take and then, 
frankly, I'm going to hand the gavel and the closing questions 
to my friend and colleague from New Hampshire while I run to 
the White House for an event.
    Thank you for everything you do and for your leadership.
    Senator Shaheen, when she answers this question, I'm going 
to hand you the gavel and the closing statement to make about 
keeping the record open so that I can flee to an event at the 
White House.
    Ms. Power. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
    So I think what I will say is that food and fertilizer are 
foremost on the minds of many, many African ministers right now 
and certainly many African heads of state and so in the 
supplemental, in addition to the $4.3 billion in emergency 
humanitarian assistance, which, of course, some of which will 
reach African acute and vulnerable communities in Africa, I 
think looking also at the food security assistance and the 
knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine and how we can utilize 
some of that food security ESF money in order to help farmers, 
you know, better target the fertilizer they have in order to 
help them supplement the fertilizer that they have with, you 
know, composts and manures they have, the Ethiopian Government 
is now encouraging.
    So the sort of how do we get through the crisis piece of 
this but also how to diversify imports and exports, how to 
build more resilience. We've been talking about resilience for 
a long time in the climate space and we in the United States 
are talking constantly about supply chain resilience and what 
the pandemic has revealed about some of the downsides of 
globalization, the vulnerabilities of globalization.
    Well, this is another example of that in Africa and I think 
what I hear from the leaders that I engage with is a desire for 
more USAID and more DFC and other support in helping them 
thicken their ability to withstand what we know are just going 
to be a growing number of shocks that come at them and so I 
think that's a huge challenge but a major opportunity and I 
hear the skepticism for sure but there's also a lot of buyer's 
remorse about the huge debt incurred by virtue of----
    Senator Coons. China refuses to be transparent, refuses to 
be partner with anything like the same--you know, a generation 
ago dozens of African countries had significant debt burdens 
relieved in no small part through the leadership of Bono and 
the One Campaign and the Chinese are doing nothing like that 
now, and I am convinced that many African countries would still 
prefer to be close partners with the United States but they 
view us as unreliable and I have heard some significant 
pushback.
    I think the vote at the UN about condemning Russia's 
invasion of Ukraine in which a significant number of our 
otherwise close partners on the continent either abstained or 
voted the other way was meant as a wake-up call for us about 
our lack of delivery on vaccines, on humanitarian relief.
    This is no way to be critical of you or your agency but 
just something I say to my colleagues quite a bit, that we have 
a moment where we could make that right and where we could 
deliver and where we could engage and I agree with you that 
meeting human needs and agricultural development challenges is 
a big part of it, but showing up, showing up robustly through 
AID, DFC, MCC, and through other partners and, frankly, re-
engaging in UN entities in a way that contests that space are 
absolutely critical.
    Thank you for your testimony. Thank you to my colleague 
from New Hampshire. I look forward to continuing to work with 
you in the year ahead.
    Ms. Power. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
    Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding 
the hearing open so I could get here. I was at another hearing 
and thank you very much, Administrator Power, for being here 
today and for the great work that you're doing and so many at 
USAID are doing.
    I really wanted to be here to talk with you a little bit 
about the Western Balkans, a part of the world I know you know 
very well, and I had a chance to visit the end of April with 
Senators Murphy and Tillis. We were in Serbia, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and I think it's fair to say that, 
first of all, with respect to USAID, we saw particularly in 
Bosnia some--heard about some really exciting and interesting 
work that you're doing there that was very positive.
    But I, for one, came away feeling like each of those 
countries had gone backward in terms of their road towards 
democracy and European immigration since the time I first 
visited each of them, and I think we were all very concerned 
about what was happening in Bosnia and the fact that I think 
after the Dayton Accords, after U4 set up the mission in Bosnia 
and Europe seemed to take some responsibility that there has 
not been as much attention to the region as we really need.
    Corruption is rampant. Their political structures are not 
working in the way that at least the people we talked to in the 
country felt were in the best interests of residents.
    So talk, if you will, a little bit about what more we can 
be doing there, what more can USAID do to address particularly 
young people who are moving out of Bosnia and the out-migration 
rate is significant there, and how do we help address the 
challenges that they're facing?
    Ms. Power. Thank you, Senator.
    Obviously there's no silver bullet because certainly when 
it comes to Bosnia, like you, President Biden, you know, has 
been a champion of Bosnia's sovereignty, its territorial 
integrity, its democracy for such a long time. I think, you 
know, we have engaged, you know, intensively because of the 
risk that really feels quite acute and, you know, I have been 
traveling back to Bosnia every few years since I left in 1996 
and, you know, every time I traveled back in the past I would 
hear Dayton's broken, it's not working. You know, there was 
always a sense of some kind of political paralysis, but on my 
more recent trip which was a few months before yours, you know, 
it was the first time that I encountered people who actually 
had packed their bags in the event of a more dire scenario and 
that is attributable, I think, to particularly the leader 
Milorad Dodik but other political leaders putting their own 
kind of power grab and their own economic ill-gotten gains 
above the interests of not only young people but all of the 
people of a country that has been through so much and has so 
much to offer but the politicians are definitely getting in the 
way.
    And so I am sure you saw some of the same unbelievable 
anti-corruption and environmental kind of crusaders and the 
independent media that USAID has invested in so much over the 
years and it's still, you know, speaking truth to power but 
just power isn't listening in the way that it needs to be and 
the idea that Dodik, you know, Republica Srpska could see fit 
to secede from, you know, some of these very technical but very 
important, you know, joint institutions at the time of a 
pandemic, at the time of spiraling food and fuel prices, at the 
time of even more severe out-migration from Republica Srpska 
than any place else in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it's just missing 
the point, right. It's about meeting the needs of the people 
and giving them reason to stay and I'll get to what we're going 
to do about it in a second, but, you know, I met with one. I 
went and played or pretended to play volley ball. They played 
and I pretended to play volley ball with a group of young 
Serbian women and I said how many of you see a future for 
yourselves here in the country and not one raised their hand 
and these women, oh, my gosh, you know, they could do anything.
    I mean, you could just tell their potential and their 
dynamism and all they wanted to do is go take it elsewhere 
because they just feel like again political leaders will never 
do what is required to create the kind of economic 
opportunities we need.
    So we're, you know, still chugging away there and 
continuing to try to invest. You and I talked about this a 
little bit on the phone once, I think, but trying to support 
more local government where, you know, just as in this country 
we see sometimes partisanship and polarization give way at the 
mayor or city council level.
    So, too, some of that is happening in places like Tuzla and 
so migrating our programming in a more decentralized way. I 
think the tourism industry, you know, who knew that Bosnia and 
Herzegovina was the mountain bike capital of the world, I 
certainly didn't, but supporting actors on the ground to build 
those mountain biking trails and again create jobs and looking 
for tourist opportunities that cross lines.
    I did a joint event with the Minister of Tourism from the 
Federation and the Minister of Tourism from so-called Republica 
of Srpska and, you know, it was amazing to imagine how many 
more tourists would come to take advantage of all Bosnia has to 
offer if there weren't the political gridlock, if people didn't 
always have a sense that things might unravel. So that's there.
    I will say that I thought you all showed great foresight in 
both supplemental in taking also note of how vulnerable these 
countries are to the current crisis, both because Putin is very 
active----
    Senator Shaheen. Right.
    Ms. Power [continuing]. In the Western Balkans and we're 
seeing a spike in disinformation and so we need to be in a 
position to come back and, you know, again support independent 
media for telling the truth or, you know, name the 
disinformation as it's coming out as we're doing more and more 
here in the United States.
    So I think the nearly $31 million in the first supplemental 
will go to programming across the Western Balkans. You know, 
there are some encouraging developments in Bulgaria and in 
Kosovo. You have leaders who are pushing an anti-corruption 
agenda and looking for resources to help on procurement laws 
and sort of structural reforms that could make also the 
business climate more attractive which in turn could have 
knock-on effects in stemming migration, but again the 
psychological insecurity around unsettled grievances and 
disputes, you know, fundamentally, the political leadership 
across the region just has to act, you know, especially at a 
time of crisis like this, with society and the people first in 
mind, and again I think there are pockets where that is 
happening and nothing like a crisis to focus the mind and 
certainly you see in public opinion polling, you know, the 
moment of opportunity now in light of Russia's aggression 
because that has broken through, notwithstanding all of the 
disinformation, but being there with these new resources to 
help small- and medium-size enterprises, to help anti-
corruption reforms, to help STEM education as they seek to 
build out their IT sectors, and I will say Kosovo's one 
example, last point I make is there's also an opportunity as so 
many private sector actors leave the Russian Federation where 
they might have been able to set up shop.
    We see every day, you know, the names of new companies who 
are leaving. We at USAID are thinking through, okay, how do we 
work, for example, with the leadership in Kosovo to try to 
attract, you know, some of those investments. There just may be 
opportunities now out of this otherwise horrific crisis that we 
need to be in a position to move on.
    So that's why the additional resources in the second 
supplemental, as well, would be very helpful in that regard.
    Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you. I really appreciate that.
    I think it's also important to point out that when I first 
visited the region in 2010, there was a real sense among the 
countries that I visited at the time and that included the 
three we just visited that there was a regional opportunity, 
that the opportunity was to look to the EU, to NATO, to the 
West, and to work together and Serbia and Croatia at the time 
had a real opportunity to play a very positive role in what was 
happening in Bosnia. That is still the case. The question is 
will they take advantage of it? Will they recognize that it's 
in all of their interests to look at what's important 
regionally because it's important to their own countries, and, 
you know, I think it's important and incumbent on us to do 
everything we can to try and encourage that.
    Ms. Power. Well, let me just say, Senator, last thing, that 
I'm just so grateful because I do think that the attention 
generally across our government to this region, you know, of 
course, the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina was drawing 
attention, the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, you know, 
always generating episodic engagement, but, you know, if I look 
at Eastern Europe as a whole, you know, USAID did shut down our 
programming, you know, and shut down missions, you know, in 
countries like Slovakia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe outside 
the Western Balkans and I think this provides us all with an 
occasion to sort of reset and to say okay, you know, there are 
real vulnerabilities here. There are also real opportunities to 
enlist, you know, more congressional delegations to travel to 
the Western Balkans.
    You know, again, USAID's role to try to broker with the 
DASPR communities, as well, more interest in getting 
engagement. I came back from Bosnia, I did a big DASPR call and 
did the same with the Moldovan President looking at Eastern 
Europe and again the shocks that predated the war in Ukraine 
and now that are stemming from that.
    So maybe, you know, as people's attention kind of drifted 
from that period when this was such a centerpiece of American 
foreign policy, maybe now is an occasion where we can really 
concentrate the mind, concentrate resources, and I think you 
alluded to European attention also, you know, flagging. I think 
the risk of Ukraine is that everything is focused on Ukraine 
and a very, very fragile situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina 
could be neglected, but I think at the highest levels we've 
been engaging our European counterparts.
    So that any push we make is a joint push which always makes 
it more effective.
    Senator Shaheen. Good. Well, thank you. Thank you very much 
for your testimony this afternoon.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the Agency for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
    No questions were submitted for the hearing.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Shaheen.The hearing record will remain open until 5 
o'clock on Wednesday, June 1, for any written questions and the 
hearing is now concluded. Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 4:14 p.m., Wednesday, May 25, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]

                               [all]