STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2020 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS NITA M. LOWEY, New York, Chairwoman BARBARA LEE, California HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky GRACE MENG, New York JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina MARTHA ROBY, Alabama LOIS FRANKEL, Florida NORMA J. TORRES, California NOTE: Under committee rules, Mrs. Lowey, as chairwoman of the full committee, and Ms. Granger, as ranking minority member of the full committee, are authorized to sit as members of all subcommittees. STEVE MARCHESE,CRAIG HIGGINS,ERIN KOLODJESKI,DEAN KOULOURIS, JEAN KWON,MARIN STEIN,JASON WHEELOCK, and CLELIA ALVARADO Subcommittee Staff PART 4 TESTIMONY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 39–683 WASHINGTON: 2020 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS NITA M. LOWEY, New York, Chairwoman MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio KAY GRANGER, Texas PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky JOSE´ E. SERRANO, New York ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama ROSA L. DELAURO, Connecticut MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina JOHN R. CARTER, Texas LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD, California KEN CALVERT, California SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR., Georgia TOM COLE, Oklahoma BARBARA LEE, California MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota TOM GRAVES, Georgia TIM RYAN, Ohio STEVE WOMACK, Arkansas C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida CHUCK FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee HENRY CUELLAR, Texas JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DAVID P. JOYCE, Ohio MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois ANDY HARRIS, Maryland DEREK KILMER, Washington MARTHA ROBY, Alabama MATT CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada GRACE MENG, New York CHRIS STEWART, Utah MARK POCAN, Wisconsin STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi KATHERINE M. CLARK, Massachusetts DAN NEWHOUSE, Washington PETE AGUILAR, California JOHN R. MOOLENAAR, Michigan LOIS FRANKEL, Florida JOHN H. RUTHERFORD, Florida CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois WILL HURD, Texas BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan NORMA J. TORRES, California CHARLIE CRIST, Florida ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona ED CASE, Hawaii SHALANDA YOUNG, Clerk and Staff Director (II) STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2020 WEDNESDAY,MARCH 6, 2019. MEMBERS’ DAY OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LOWEY The CHAIRWOMAN. Good morning. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs will come to order. I welcome our distinguished colleagues. It is a pleasure to have you join us for our second hearing of the year. Even though we are still waiting for the president’s Fiscal Year 2020 request, we have already started our appropriations season, and your voices are integral to the process. The democracy, devel- opment, diplomacy, humanitarian, and security assistance pro- grams funded in this bill are critical to maintaining U.S. global leadership, protecting our national security and promoting eco- nomic growth. Yet, since coming to office, the president has proposed cutting these programs by more than 30 percent each year. Fortunately, Congress responded with a resounding and bipartisan rejection of the administration’s proposals. It is my expectation that we will see a similarly damaging request again this year. That is why I appreciate each of you making time to testify and draw attention to these critical programs, the very programs that protect our national security and uphold our foreign policy prior- ities. I thank you again for coming, and I look forward to hearing from my distinguished colleagues about your priorities in the State and Foreign Operations bill. At this point, I would like to turn to my Ranking Member Mr. Rogers for any comments he may have. Mr. ROGERS. Thank you Madam Chairwoman. Is it chairwoman or chairman? The CHAIRWOMAN. Chair. Mr. ROGERS. Chair. The CHAIRWOMAN. You can call me whatever you want. OPENING STATEMENT OF MR.ROGERS Mr. ROGERS. Thank you for those opening remarks. We are glad to have several Members and colleagues with us today to tell us their priorities. This hearing comes at a very important time, ahead of what we expect will be another significant cut to the international affairs budget by the President despite being rejected for 2 straight years. (1) 2 There are a lot of important programs in this bill that together make up the soft power of U.S. national security. I am pleased we get to hear about several of them today from colleagues like your- self and others. We look forward to your testimony and I yield back. The CHAIRWOMAN. Representative Espaillat of the 13th District of New York, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I want to thank you for joining us today. We are happy to place your full testimony into the record. Please proceed as you choose. WEDNESDAY,MARCH 6, 2019. WITNESS HON. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK OPENING STATEMENT OF MR.ESPAILLAT Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member Rogers for allowing me to testify during today’s hearing to lay out what I feel are my priorities as they relate to the State Department and related agencies. As you know, I am the first Dominican-American elected to serve in the U.S. Congress, and I am also a member obviously of the For- eign Affairs Committee and the Western Hemisphere Sub- committee. I know that maintaining our foreign aid and diplomatic commitments builds a strong hand for the U.S. in the Caribbean and all over the world, and the Caribbean, as you may know, is our third border and it has its own very challenging goals, objectives, challenges that we should help them with. This is not only in the interest of helping our brothers and sis- ters in Central and South America and the Caribbean but is also in our best interest to protect our security and improve our eco- nomic relations with these countries. I would like to begin by talking to you about Venezuela, which as you know has been in the news lately. It is imperative that the U.S. support the right of the Venezuelan people to freely and fairly elect their leaders, and that we support work to end the humani- tarian suffering in the country. Rampant inflation, lack of access to food and medicine, and the collapse of the social services there have led to abhorrent condi- tions in this particular country, causing more than 3 million Ven- ezuelans from leaving the country to neighboring countries and countries around the world. While it is of vital interest for the U.S. to provide necessary support to the Venezuelan people, we must not fall into the failed practices of the past of overstepping our grounds, our bounds in the region. The U.S. cannot again be a for- eign power meddling in the affairs of another country. We cannot continue to think that we are the policemen of the world. To this end, I urge the committee to continue funding programs that are a vital support to the Venezuelan people. However, I urge the committee to include report language that funding be of a hu- manitarian nature and explicitly not intended for the use of mili- tary or state police efforts. 3 I would also like to discuss our efforts to combat crime and illicit trafficking in the Caribbean. But before I do that, let me just say that I am in support of the Venezuelan people and their efforts to have transparent, democratic elections and their ability to have the sovereignty to elect their own leaders. And I find that I am in sup- port of their plight given the horrific conditions that they find themselves in that have been pushed by the Maduro regime. I would also like to assess and I would also like to talk about crime and illicit trafficking in the Caribbean. As I said earlier, Madam Chair, the Caribbean is the third border of our nation The Caribbean is particularly susceptible to drug trade as a midway point for narcotics produced in South America on their way to the U.S. The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) has been in- strumental in providing the funding needed to combat crime and violence. Because of our efforts in Central America, and I may dare to say that many of our efforts have been successful in combating crime in that area and we have seen even a reduction of crime in that area, the drug trade seems to be shifting more and more towards the Caribbean. And for that reason I am speaking about this par- ticular problem as the drugs begin to shift in the Caribbean and get to U.S. shores. Per the Congressional Research Service, CRS, crime and violence are on the rise in the Caribbean. CRS reports that homicide rates in the Caribbean countries have increased in recent years because of gangs and organized crime, competition between drug trafficking organizations, and the availability of firearms. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office indicates program-by-pro- gram successes within the CBSI, but also a need for improved data collection. In accordance with this report, I plan to introduce legislation to both develop better data reporting mechanisms and to authorize in- creased funds to expand this crucial initiative. We know how last year the president proposed dramatic cuts in this particular area. Well, I am asking for this funding for the Caribbean Basin Secu- rity Initiative to be doubled this year, and I will be submitting leg- islation so that we can accomplish that. I urge this committee again to double the funding for the Caribbean Basin Security Ini- tiative for Fiscal year 2019, and I will continue to work with you, Madam Chair, to ensure that we do the best work that we can to ensure that the third border of our country, the United States of America, is protected and that we reap the benefits of our efforts.