06 March 2003
Text: Powell Says 2004 State Budget Vital to U.S. Foreign Policy Programs
(State is seeking $28.5 billion in new funding) (2100)
Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate committee March 6 that
the proposed fiscal year 2004 State Department budget of $28.5 billion
will allow the United States to target security and economic
assistance to sustain key nations supporting the United States in the
war on terrorism and help stem the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.
"The budget will help us launch the Millennium Challenge Account --
the new partnership generating support that will go to countries that
rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom,"
Powell said before the Senate Appropriations Committee. "It will also
strengthen the U.S. and global commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and
alleviating human hardships."
He said the proposed budget, which takes effect October 1, will allow
the United States to combat illegal drugs in the Andean region of
South America and bolster democracy in Colombia. The FY 04 budget will
also reinforce America's diplomatic force, focusing on the people,
places, and tools to promote U.S. foreign policies around the world,
he said.
(Note: In the text, "billion" equals 1,000 million.)
Following is the text of Powell's remarks:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
March 6, 2003
As Delivered
REMARKS
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Before the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and State
Washington, D.C.
(10:00 a.m. EST)
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It is a great
pleasure to be back before the committee. I do thank you also for
giving me a hall pass, if I needed one today. It is a busy time for us
in the diplomatic community, and I will be heading up to New York this
afternoon to work with my colleagues at the U.N.
But I really did want to be here because it is also an important part
of my job to make sure that I present to the Congress our budget
request and then appear to testify for that budget request because it
has everything to do with the quality of our diplomacy, whether or not
we get the support we need for the wonderful men and women of the
State Department and for the facilities and other items that we need
to make sure we can do our job in the most effective way.
I do have a prepared statement for the record, which I would offer,
Mr. Chairman, and then I would summarize that very briefly.
I am pleased to appear before you to testify in support of the
President's International Affairs Budget for Fiscal Year 2004. The
funding requested for 2004 for the Department of State, USAID, and
other foreign affairs agencies is overall $28.5 billion, and I have
given you a great deal of detail on this request in my written
statement and I hope you will find it useful as you go through your
deliberations.
The President's budget will allow the United States to target security
and economic assistance to sustain key countries supporting us in the
war on terrorists, terrorism, and helping us to stem the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction. The budget will help us launch the
Millennium Challenge Account -- the new partnership generating support
that will go to countries that rule justly, invest in their people,
and encourage economic freedom. It will also strengthen the U.S. and
global commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and alleviating human
hardships. It will allow us to combat illegal drugs in the Andean
region of South America as well as bolster democracy in one of that
region's most important countries, Colombia; and finally, reinforce
America's world-class diplomatic force, focusing on the people,
places, and tools needed to promote our foreign policies around the
world.
I am particularly proud of that last goal, Mr. Chairman, because, as
you know, for the past two years, I have concentrated on that aspect
of my responsibilities, not only as foreign policy advisor to the
President, but Chairman and CEO of a large organization. And what you
need in a large organization is to have the very best people who are
coming in and, once they are in, to take care of them. So, we are
asking for your full support of our Diplomatic Readiness Initiative.
For two years, we have been hiring for the first time in years -- we
will hire, with this budget request, 399 more professionals to help
the President carry out the nation's foreign policy. This hiring will
bring us to the 1,100-plus new Foreign and Civil Service officers we
set out to hire when I first came into the job two-plus years ago.
I thank the Committee and I thank the Congress for the support that it
has provided, not only to our Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, but to
our overall operating accounts over the last several years.
Second, I promise to bring state-of-the-art communications capability
to the Department, because people who can't communicate rapidly and
effectively in today's globalizing world can't carry out our foreign
policy. We are doing very well in that regard, in both unclassified
and classified communications capability, including desktop access to
the Internet for every man and woman of the Department. We are moving
rapidly. We are almost there. The $157 million budget request before
you will put us there.
Finally, with respect to my CEO role, I wanted to sweep the slate
clean and completely revamp the way we construct our embassies and
other overseas buildings, as well as to improve on the manner in which
we secure our men and women who occupy those facilities. That last
task is a long-term, almost never-ending one, particularly in this
time of heightened terrorist activities. But we are well on the way to
implementing both the construction and security tasks in a better way,
in a less expensive way, and in a way that subsequent CEOs of the
Department can continue and improve upon.
I am very happy at the work we have done in embassy construction and
security over the past two years under the leadership of General
Williams, who you all have come to know. I need your continued support
for the $1.5 billion for embassy security and construction, and the
$646 million in DNCP (Department New Construction Program) funding for
worldwide security upgrades.
Mr. Chairman, as the principal foreign policy advisor to the
President, I have budget priorities on that side of my portfolio, as
well. So let me highlight a few of our key foreign policy priorities
before I stop and take your questions.
I might note that one of the successes of our foreign policy was the
Moscow Treaty, which reduces significantly the number of strategic
offensive weapons held by the United States and the Russian
Federation. That treaty is now up on the Senate floor, and I hope that
it will be acted on promptly and I encourage your support for the
treaty. With a little bit of luck and with my fingers crossed, it
might even be voted on today when remaining amendments, proposed
amendments, have been dealt with.
The 2004 Budget proposes several initiatives to advance U.S. National
Security interests and preserve American leadership. The 2004 Foreign
Operations Budget that funds programs for Department of State, USAID
and other foreign agencies is $18.8 billion. Today our number one
priority is to fight and win the global war on terrorism. The budget
furthers this goal by providing economic, military and democracy
assistance to key foreign partners and allies, including $4.7 billion
to those countries who have joined us in the war on terrorism.
Of this amount, the President's budget provides $657 million for
Afghanistan, $460 million for Jordan, $395 million for Pakistan, $255
million for Turkey, $136 million for Indonesia and $87 million for the
Philippines.
In Afghanistan, the funding will be used to fulfill our commitment to
rebuild Afghanistan's road network. In addition, it will help
establish security throughout the country by the creation of a
military as well as a national police force. Our assistance will
establish broad-based and accountable governance throughout democratic
institutions in Afghanistan by fostering an active civil society.
I am very pleased at what we have been able to do in Afghanistan over
the last year and a half. Some ask whether the glass is half-empty or
half-full. Well, we still have a long way to go in Afghanistan, but we
should be very proud of what we have been able to accomplish.
President Karzai was here earlier this week. We had good discussions
with him. When you consider we came from nothing, from zero, from
nothing, from a ruined country to a country that now has a
representative form of government, they have spoken out for the leader
that they want to have as their president, they are getting ready for
an election next year, a constitution is well underway, roads are
under construction. Two million refugees have returned. Two million
people that have been living in other lands, in Iran, in Pakistan,
have voted with their feet for this new country and for the leadership
that it is under and recognizing that they are also counting on our
full support to rebuild that country, and I think we should be very
proud of what we have done.
I also want to emphasize our efforts to decrease the threats posed by
terrorist groups, rogue states and other non-state actors with regards
to weapons of mass destruction and related technology. To achieve this
goal, we must strengthen partnerships with countries that share our
views in dealing with the threat of terrorism and in resolving
regional conflicts.
The 2004 Budget requests support for the Nonproliferation and
Disarmament Fund. The budget also increases funding for overseas
export controls and border security and supports additional funding
for science centers and bio-chem redirection programs.
Funding increases requested for these programs will help us prevent
weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorist
groups or states by preventing their movement across borders and by
destroying or safeguarding known quantities of weapons or source
material.
The budget also promotes international peace and prosperity by
launching the most innovative approach to foreign assistance in more
than 40 years. The new Millennium Challenge Account, an independent
government corporation funded at $1.3 billion, will redefine
development aid. As President Bush told African leaders meeting in
Mauritius earlier this year, this aid will go to those nations that
encourage economic freedom, root out corruption, put in place the rule
of law, respect the rights of their people, and have made a firm
commitment to democracy.
Moreover, the President's budget request offers hope and a helping
hand to countries facing health catastrophes, poverty and despair, and
humanitarian disasters. The budget includes more than $1 billion to
meet the needs of refugees and internally displaced peoples.
The budget also provides more than $1.3 billion to combat the global
HIV/AIDS epidemic, the worst crisis facing this world. The President's
total budget for HIV/AIDS is over $2 billion, which includes the first
year's funding for the new Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief
announced by the President in his State of the Union Address. This
funding will target 14 of the hardest hit countries in Africa and the
Caribbean.
The budget also includes almost a half a billion dollars for Colombia.
This funding will support Colombian President Uribe's unified campaign
against terrorists and the drug trade that fuels their activities. The
aim is to secure democracy, extend security, and restore economic
prosperity to Colombia and prevent the narco-terrorists from spreading
instability to the broader Andean region.
To accomplish this goal requires more than simply funding for
Colombia, therefore our total Andean Counter-Drug Initiative is $731
million. Critical components of this effort include resumption of the
Air Bridge Denial Program to stop internal and cross-border aerial
trafficking and illicit drugs, stepped-up eradication and development
efforts, and technical assistance to strengthen Colombia's police and
judicial institutions.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, to advance America's
interests around the world, we need the dollars in the President's
Budget for Fiscal Year 2004. We need the dollars under both of my
hats, as principal foreign policy advisor to the President as well as
CEO of the Department of State.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I will stop and be responsive as I can to
your questions.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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