WASHINGTON – Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS), spoke today at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the global food crisis, where he questioned USAID Administrator Samantha Power and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield about American efforts to work with international partners and allies to address this crisis. See his full remarks below.
Sen. Chris Coons: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you and the ranking member of this committee for holding a full committee hearing on this remarkable, grave global crisis in food security, and the attendance here and your engagement as senior administration representatives is important. I thought it was striking at the outset, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, when you said this is -- you've never seen a food crisis like this in your career, and I expect that Administrator Power and Mr. Beasley would both agree with you. We first met in Liberia. You've been to tough places; you know what food crisis looks like. And it is striking to me that at exactly this moment when we have a bitter cocktail coming together, of conflict, and COVID, and climate, that the United States is stepping up in a massive way. Each of the descriptions Administrator Power just gave of ‘this ally, this ally, this ally’ was billions from the United States, millions from this allied partner. And one of the things I'm most concerned about is the lack of engagement and presence by the PRC, yes, by our Gulf partners, absolutely, and the ways in which our European partners and allies are providing – yes, support for refugees – but modest support for the development, the urgent food security and development needs of sub–Saharan African. Administrator Power, thank you for outlining in your speech at CSIS the actions we need to take in response to this food security emergency, and I'm encouraged by the plan for a $1.3 billion surge for the Horn of Africa where you're about to travel, as well as the $200 million in ready-to-use therapeutic foods which are used for children in starvation, but I’d be interested in hearing concisely, where you see funding gaps and what more we can do to mobilize the donor community both through the UN and through USAID and I’ll also be asking Mr. Beasley about his particular brand of effective and forceful personal engagement with those who still sit on the sidelines.
Hon. Samantha Power: Thank you. Well, let me just say that I think President Biden took advantage of his trip to the Middle East to engage the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, I think there's a lot of room for growth in terms of those contributions and particularly in fulfilling pledges that have been made publicly but not yet delivered upon. And you know, money is fungible for an organization like the World Food Program. And so, if, for example, Gulf countries were to concentrate their resources for example, on Yemen, that would free up resources for other countries to be able to use in the Horn of Africa or in South Sudan and so forth. So too, it has to be said again, that European commitments and contributions inside Ukraine are very important, and it's very important that the UN appeals for inside Ukraine be met with the same kind of urgency and the same kind of resources as the needs of refugees that passed into Europe have been met with.
Sen. Chris Coons: A number of us are eager to work with you in coordination on pressing our closest allies and partners to meet their commitments and to be a part of this global moment. I'm struck, Ambassador, by the anger, frankly, the breadth and depth of anger in the developing world, at what many of our long-standing partners, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, see as an abandonment of their public health and humanitarian and hunger needs, in the face of what has been year after year after year of drought. I'd be interested in your thoughts on both what we can most do to help with opening up the Black Sea ports – I met with the Secretary General recently, I'm encouraged that the UN is at the table, and I frankly think we should focus on this like it is the Berlin Airlift, that it could be an opportunity to show the UN's engagement and relevance at a critical moment – but I'm also wondering, where you see the UN going. We are behind in our commitments; we are billions of dollars behind in our dues, obligations, our commitments to the UN, although we are billions ahead in our contributions and support to UNICEF and UNHCR and World Food Program. How does it hurt our standing at the UN, when we are billions behind in our commitments?
Hon. Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Thank you so much for the question, Senator, because that is really the crux of the challenge that I face in New York every single day as we are put in a position of having to compete with our adversaries on being able to influence the UN action, putting staff who are capable, in the United Nations. We’re reminded publicly and attempted to shame but we don't feel shame that we are -- that we have such a large debt, such large arrears in the United Nations. So, we really do have to address that issue, if we're able, if we're going to be able to compete—
Sen. Chris Coons: Does that create an opening for countries like China and Russia to influence the UN system despite our significant leadership in our contributions?
Hon. Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Every gap that we leave is an opening for the Chinese. They flow into every open space that we leave. So that means staffing in the UN, means funding for junior professional offices. These are young people like we have around in this room, who we'd like to see working at the United Nations and the way they get in is through a professional program that's funded by their government. The Chinese have more than 400, if not more, of those young people inside the United Nations. We can't compete.
Sen. Chris Coons: As we work on the SFOPS appropriations bill this year we will keep both of those things in mind. I'm mindful I'm out of time and many of my colleagues have gone over. I'll just conclude by saying if I can, Administrator Power, I am interested in hearing from you about our investment in food storage to help the Ukrainians but frankly, also globally, and in programming, you're launching around food waste. We don't have any extra food to waste in this world. And then last, I want to continue engaging with you, Ambassador, on the SDRs, on the IMF, and the ways in which international financial institutions can help stabilize some of the countries we're most concerned about. But if the Chinese keep piling on the debt and we don't fund the Development Finance Corporation as our alternative that is more transparent and more sustainable, we will continue to go in the wrong direction in the developing world. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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