All parties have good reasons to make concessions. None of them can afford to watch Burma descend further into isolation and desperation and wait to act until another generation of its people is lost.

We haven't had an ambassador to Burma since 1990, how do you feel about this in terms of affecting your ability to engage the Government and the diplomatic representatives of other countries in Burma?

We have urged Burma's senior leadership to abide by its own commitment to fully comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874.

A key part of your role as defined by the JADE Act is to consult with regional partners and others to coordinate policy.

I would strongly agree with your summation on that.

You would agree, would you not, that sanctions from the outside affect the ability of a country to evolve economically and in other ways?

Well, at a time when we have had these sanctions in place, Beijing has made well more than $5 billion in direct investment without asking for any sort of political change inside the country.

It's difficult to say how quickly they will move forward with the succession process, but I think our advice to Pyongyang would be that, if they want the succession process to move forward smoothly, they should focus on responsible…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Having served as Ambassador to Burkina Faso, I'm aware of the importance, if confirmed, of working with this committee and the Congress in order to advance United States interests in Malawi.

I'm also deeply grateful for the support of Senator Enzi; his wife, Diane; Senator Barrasso; and my husband, Mark.

We abhor those attacks, and we called on North Korea to refrain from all such provocative actions in the future.

it's a matter of real concern when we're trying to figure out what the exact policies are in our executive branch...

But I think you would agree that there are differences between responses generated directly from your office...

There's been some concern over here in the Congress, and I'm one of those who has articulated this concern...

If we continue to slash the foreign assistance budget irresponsibly as your side of the aisle did in H.R. 1, we are going to cripple our ability to exercise diplomacy.

We need a vibrant foreign affairs policy. However, that policy needs to be one that is prudent with the American taxpayer's money.

The idea that the world's surviving superpower cannot afford to back up its diplomatic efforts is to me a reckless thought, an unacceptable thought.