[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 188 (Tuesday, October 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7370-S7372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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      By Mr. COONS:
  S. 3075. A bill making appropriations for the Department of State, 
foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2022, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Appropriations.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak to the fiscal 
year 2022 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.
  Every year as December approaches, we finally roll up our sleeves and 
get serious about passing the critical appropriations bills that fund 
our government for the new fiscal year, and this year should be no 
different. We are, in fact, already a month into fiscal year 2022. 
Until we complete our work on the Appropriations Committee, Federal 
Agencies are compelled to run on autopilot--something they can manage 
for a few weeks, even a few months, but it creates immense problems for 
Agencies and has grave consequences for every State and county and 
municipality in this country if it goes on too long.
  What I am talking about today is the grave risk that we will end up 
with a continuing resolution. Now, a continuing resolution doesn't 
sound that scary, but it is appropriations-speak for doing nothing, for 
a zombie government, for conducting business as if time has stopped and 
nothing has changed.
  As the relatively new chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on 
State and Foreign Operations, I am acutely aware that running our 
government on autopilot undermines the ability of the United States to 
be a global leader, to defend and advance our national security and 
foreign interests, and to counter the influence and aggression of our 
competitors and adversaries.
  If we were to continue month after month through this entire fiscal 
year with no appropriation, what are the things that have happened that 
we would fail to respond to?
  Well, tragically, in Ethiopia and in Afghanistan, there are 
humanitarian crises unfolding before our eyes, where millions are at 
risk of starvation. In Haiti, due to the recent earthquake and 
political changes, armed gangs have taken over much of the capital, and 
tens of thousands are homeless. In Venezuela, the ongoing crisis with 
the Maduro regime continues to worsen, putting enormous pressure on its 
neighbors as millions of Venezuelans flee to other regions seeking 
refuge.
  We are also continuing to work to vaccinate the world to stop further 
the spread of COVID-19 and prevent the development of even more deadly 
variants than the Delta variant.
  Last year's State and Foreign Operations bill included a small 
fraction of what is now widely recognized as being essential to prepare 
for the next outbreak of a deadly virus, which could be

[[Page S7371]]

even more lethal than COVID-19 or Ebola and more transmissible.
  A continuing resolution would deny the U.S. Government the resources 
included in this year's bill to lead the global pandemic response.
  Now, Mr. President, I will not attempt to go through the entire 
roughly 320 pages of this year's nearly $60 billion State and Foreign 
Operations appropriations bill, but I do want to talk about, at the top 
level, some of the most important provisions and some of the most 
significant ways in which it deals with ongoing challenges in our 
world.
  Last year's bill included almost nothing to help nations deal with 
the worst impacts of climate change, impacts that are occurring with 
greater frequency and intensity than previously predicted. Rising 
temperatures, severe droughts, food shortages, flooding, fires, and 
other extreme weather events are more and more common here in our own 
country and around the world.
  Last year's bill continued the counterproductive practice of failing 
to meet our assessed dues at the United Nations, adding another $200 
million in our arrears, arrears that today are nearly a billion 
dollars. If we continue this another year with a CR, who benefits the 
most from our delinquency, from our absence at the world stage and at 
all the different organizations and entities within the United Nations? 
China.
  China has been methodically paying what it owes, expanding its 
influence, and has already surpassed us as the largest donor to several 
different U.N. agencies. If you think that doesn't matter, imagine a 
world in which China is the largest contributor, supporter, 
shareholder, influencer of United Nations organizations and has the 
largest number of employees and sets the rules and standards at the 
dozens of U.N. entities that are critical to global commerce, to global 
society, and to the rules-based international order.
  Last year, our SFOPS bill shortchanged U.S. public diplomacy and 
broadcasting, and we saw an emboldened Russian Government expel Radio 
Free Europe and all of its staff.
  Last year's bill did positive things. It rejected the Trump 
administration's proposed deep cuts to State Department operations and 
personnel, but it did little to fill the yawning gap caused by a hiring 
freeze and steady attrition due to a loss of morale.
  Practically all of our Embassies, our consulates, and USAID missions 
are today operating at below--and in some cases far below--their 
authorized staffing, their critically needed capacity.
  Over the last 4 years, I will say that our reputation as a stalwart 
defender of democratic values and of human rights, a reputation earned 
over decades, was tarnished. Reaffirming those values and rebuilding 
our reputation requires more than brave speeches and good words. It 
requires investing in the staff, in the personnel, in the organizations 
and the programs that support human rights and that fight for democracy 
around the world.
  I know Senators of both parties recognize the imperative of our 
maintaining our reputation as the world's leading democracy, of fully 
staffing our Embassies, of strengthening our alliances, of countering 
growing Russian and Chinese influence, and of maintaining our world 
leadership role in public health by responding to the COVID-19 
pandemic.
  But what also needs to be recognized is that none of this is possible 
if we simply continue funding these requirements at last year's level. 
The fiscal year 2022 State and Foreign Operations bill was posted on 
the Appropriations Committee website Monday, and I am introducing it as 
a bill in total today.
  I urge our Republican colleagues to work with us to arrive at a top 
line for fiscal year 2022 appropriations, to complete work on this and 
the other appropriations bills, and to avoid a yearlong continuing 
resolution that is in no one's interest.
  This year's State and Foreign Operations bill was drafted with input 
from leaders in both parties, which has been our longstanding practice. 
Senator Graham of South Carolina, the former chairman and now ranking 
member, has been an invaluable partner. He and I have traveled to a 
number of countries together, and I value his ideas, his input, and his 
priorities and those of his staff.
  Many of his ideas are reflected in the fiscal year 2022 bill, as are 
requests of many Senators of both parties. Every draft of this bill was 
shared and edited by both sides. Neither Senator Graham nor I got 
everything we wanted, nor should we expect to. There are things that 
his side opposes; there are things that my side wanted that are not 
included because of his objections.
  Contrary to what some have suggested, this was not a partisan 
process. Does this bill differ from what the Republicans would have 
drafted if they were in the majority? Of course. But it is, in fact, a 
compromise, the result of disciplined and thorough negotiation between 
both parties.
  We did our best to incorporate the requests of other Senators, 
regardless of party. And if we had included every dollar that was asked 
of us, we would need a budget allocation five times the amount we were 
given to spend. That alone tells you a great deal about the strong 
bipartisan support for global leadership and engagement.
  The budget allocation our subcommittee was given is, in fact, $1.75 
billion below President Biden's budget request, and that made us make 
even tougher budget choices than we initially imagined. The entire 
SFOPS budget amounts to only 1 percent of the Federal budget, contrary 
to the mythology many of us hear out on the stump, in townhalls, and in 
campaign events.
  Folks come to us all the time who imagine that if we just eliminated 
foreign aid, we would cover the entire Federal debt. One percent--1 
percent--of the Federal budget is dedicated to our State Department, 
our USAID professionals, our engagement in world organizations--all of 
the good that is done on behalf of the United States and that 
strengthens our role in strategic and, I would say, moral leadership in 
the world at a time when our allies are under unprecedented pressure.
  The fiscal year 2022 State and Foreign Operations bill provides 
critically needed funds to rebuild the muscles of the State Department 
and USAID, to fill vacant personnel positions, to allow for diplomats 
and aid workers to serve as professional and dedicated representatives 
to the United States around the world.
  I will remind you, many of them serve in dangerous and remote posts, 
from the Horn of Africa to South Asia and Central America. But unlike 
our men and women in uniform, they don't carry weapons to defend 
themselves. They, instead, carry the full faith and credit of the 
United States, our reputation and our support, and our thanks. And 
there are provisions we should be adding to future bills to ensure they 
have the full support they need and deserve to have successful careers 
representing us overseas.
  As I mentioned earlier, the clarity with which we all see the urgency 
of combating climate change has become sharper and sharper as natural 
disaster after natural disaster imposes billions of dollars of costs on 
the American people. This bill provides nearly $2 billion in proactive 
investments in key climate programs to support clean energy 
technologies and help other countries adapt to climate change. This 
should be a priority for the Senate and the United States.
  There are parts of the world already experiencing temperatures that 
make life unbearable, where water scarcity is an existential threat, 
food insecurity is increasing, and there is a risk of widespread 
hunger.
  In coming years, projections are the number of migrants driven from 
their home countries by climate change will increase dramatically to 
tens of millions of people moving across the face of the world, driven 
by climate change. It is not too late for us to act, but it nearly is. 
And this significant investment, meeting the President's budget 
request--in fact, in some areas exceeding it--is, I think, an important 
signal of our commitment to combat climate change.
  This bill also provides a billion dollars to support global health 
security, an $800 million increase in the current level, recognizing 
the global pandemic in which we are currently struggling to provide 
vaccines and public health support for the rest of the world.
  It also provides support for a wide range of sustained and bipartisan 
long-term global health investments: combating malaria, polio, 
tuberculosis; for

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nutrition, water, and sanitation programs; and maintaining strong 
support for the PEPFAR Program to combat HIV/AIDS, first initiated by 
President George Bush and sustained by his successor administrations.
  This bill also maintains critical support for vital allies and 
partners, for the nations of Israel and Jordan and other allies 
throughout the world, and it pays our commitments to international 
organizations like NATO and the IAEA. It provides funds to continue our 
leadership role as the world's largest contributor to the U.N. World 
Food Programme, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for the 
critical, lifesaving difference they have made in feeding the world's 
most vulnerable people and in responding to the current global 
humanitarian crisis.
  This bill includes a nearly $150 million increase for vital programs 
in Central America to address poverty, violence, and other root causes 
of migration while also attempting to address the rampant corruption 
and impunity within the governments of the countries of Central America 
with which we look to partner.
  There is also a critical new investment here I want to point out 
briefly. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, 
something a number of us have a hand in crafting, will have an 
increased budget by more than $100 million to support private-sector 
investment in development overseas with standards that are higher, that 
are more transparent in terms of labor, environment, and fiscal 
soundness and transparency. I think this is critical for us to combat 
rising Chinese influence through the Belt and Road Initiative and for 
the United States to have a new tool to partner with our closest allies 
in development finance.
  This also provides $900 million to the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation, another initiative of the Bush administration sustained by 
its successors, that has demonstrated that long-term compacts with 
clear standards and clear metrics can contribute meaningfully to 
development in the Third World.
  The bill supports programs to protect and promote internet freedom, 
religious freedom, and freedom of expression, all of which are critical 
ways that we don't just talk about but we show our values in the world.
  And it increases funding for programs to support free and fair 
elections, human rights, and democratic institutions at a time when 
authoritarianism is gaining ground in nearly every region of the world. 
No country has the ability to match the United States when it comes to 
standing up to ruthless dictators, whether in Burma, in Russia, or in 
Iran, and people everywhere are counting on us to do so.
  This bill also prioritizes funding for programs to combat 
transnational crime and corruption and to hold accountable foreign 
officials who enrich themselves at the expense of their own people, and 
it provides funding to help countries--especially those hardest hit by 
the pandemic--to reform and strengthen struggling economies. And, for 
the first time, it highlights the need for greater engagement through 
diplomacies and specific programs in the Arctic region, which is 
rapidly becoming an area of focus and of strategic competition.
  Whether it is investing in rebuilding the professional staff at the 
State Department and USAID or whether it is shoring up our alliances 
and our partnerships with key allies or reasserting U.S. diplomatic 
leadership in international organizations, it is the funding and the 
authorities in this bill that will enable us to remain and to 
strengthen our role as a global leader.
  As President Biden leaves to go to the G20, to go to COP26, the 
global climate summit in Glasgow, we should be sending a strong signal 
of support. We should be taking up and passing this bill.
  If we simply remain on autopilot, if we doom the Agencies I have 
spoken about in my brief remarks today to a zombie year on autopilot, 
we will weaken our standing in the world. We will take a critical tool 
out of the toolkit of our President, who I believe many of us supported 
because of his ability to represent us well on the world stage and in 
recognition of the many crises that confront our world today.
  Appropriating funds for the Federal Government is among our most 
important responsibilities under article I of our Constitution. It is 
not something to be casual or blase or nonchalant about. It is 
something to take up, to seriously debate, and to act on.
  With just 6 weeks before the continuing resolution runs out, it is 
time for us to act on the State and Foreign Operations bill and all the 
other fiscal 2022 appropriations bills so we can avoid a zombie 
government under a continuing resolution and demonstrate that the 
Senate of the United States can still legislate in the best interests 
of the American people.
  Thank you.

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