Karen Bass

Boko Haram is, of course, not very friendly to our activities and there is this desire to protect.

We came away and said, what? Who among us could live on about 1,000 calories per day?

If the Europeans won't step up we've got to make sure that we are.

We need additional funds. And so I really think that's where you all come in because for us to know when exactly it hits or if it's being held up we need for you guys to communicate to us that the money has not been received.

I was happy when I was in South Sudan I saw the differences in the bags.

I think the good news is is that when we did have the hearing on the budget there really wasn't support.

I am concerned about the European response because everybody seemed as though they understood and that they were going to weigh in but at the level of which they were going to contribute was of major concern.

There is rent-seeking at all levels of the South Sudanese Government.

I said to Salva Kiir, his Chief of Defence Force--we said it again together in a joint voice, you need a zero tolerance policy, President Salva Kiir, with your security forces and your military. No sexual assault, period.

Hold the perpetrators of that violence to account on an equal basis.

I appreciated that you were clear that you understand the significance of the continent and the role that we play there.

May is the month when people come together across the country to acknowledge the half million young people in the Nation's child welfare system. This is National Foster Youth Month. The child welfare system is designed to protect children…

deep cuts to the Department of State and USAID budgets will cause unavoidable damage to African partners and to American interests on the continent.

if such draconian cuts to the Department of State and USAID are allowed to proceed, then we will abdicate our position of principled partnership with African governments.

cutting the USAID budget will inevitably harm African partners and hurt American interests.

one of the things that I have appreciated over the last couple of years in this committee is legislation like you mentioned, Electrify Africa, and also Feed the Future, which I believe begins to change the paradigm toward Africans doing…

decreasing the number of diplomats available to serve in U.S. Embassies abroad... will decrease our ability to shape events and advance our interests on the continent.

the ranks of the Foreign Service can be dramatically reduced without harming the national interests of the United States is incorrect.

Texas is reportedly the State in the Nation that has the most human trafficking going on in it.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Chairman Smith for your leadership on this over many years, in particular Chairman Smith, who really was the leading force in the House for many years on the trafficking issue.

The State government--this is the Texas of the Texas miracle, one of the top 12 economies in the world... have literally been sending these sex trafficking victims, human trafficking victims, to jail because they simply don't care enough…

The public education that is covered in this bill-- educating children, teachers, hotel workers, airline staff--is really critical because human trafficking can be spotted and stopped in many different ways.

I want to thank you to Chairman Royce and also Congressman Smith for your legislation on combatting human trafficking globally, but also, hopefully, domestically.

And frankly, if a girl runs away, that doesn't mean that she wants to be trafficked.

I am very hopeful that we will be--not just introducing but seeing this bill for the first time on the House in late May.