On the recordFebruary 16, 2011
Over the last several weeks we've seen some of the most dramatic and potentially promising events in the Arab world in perhaps a generation. We saw what began with the actions of a fruit vendor in Tunisia spiral and take down not only the government in that country but in Egypt in a way that carries on and whose consequences we have yet to fully comprehend. In this environment where we have a potential game-changing situation in the Arab world, where people not only in the Arab world but around the entire globe have celebrated as people have taken to the streets to reclaim the right to shape their own government, to exercise their God-given rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association, in this hour of great promise and hour of great peril, our ability to interact with the rest of the world, our ability to fund vital efforts in the rest of the world is more essential than ever. We have an opportunity here to help in parts of the world that have been fertile terrain for terrorism to remove some of the root causes of that terrorism--the lack of opportunity, suffering under authoritarian regimes--and we need to engage in this potentially new world. I am very much afraid that some of the crippling cuts to our foreign assistance budget that are contemplated in this CR will undermine our ability to react and respond in this fast-changing situation.
