Chris Murphy

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to all of you. Congratulations on your nominations. Hopefully we will move you quickly through the process.

I think that we should be doing everything possible that we can to encourage them and to help them along that path.

You cannot have a military solution without a political component and political plan underlying that military action.

There are not military solutions to many of the problems we face in the Middle East.

I think we can do more to give you that additional flexibility.

It is stunning that we complain about the lack of influence that America has around the world, and then we spend 0.1 percent of our GDP on foreign aid compared to 1950 when we were spending 3 percent of GDP on foreign aid.

The amount of money available to USAID and a larger sum to State has been declining to the point now where I think in 2015, it was about $160 million overall for DG and that is down from just 2 years ago being up above 230.

When I travel around the developed world and talk about opportunities for U.S. businesses and U.S. exports, it is rule of law, rule of law, rule of law.

It will be important for us to provide that fiscal space for them.

Frankly, if those two areas do not keep up in some way with the security side of the relationship, that could get out of whack.

My sense is that the increases that are in the administration's request for fiscal year 2016 are very well grounded and they reflect some very serious needs not only in the security area where it is plainly obvious that Tunisia is facing…

On a bipartisan basis, we were there and made a commitment to do everything that Tunisia needed in order to continue on its democratic path.

Having spent $800 million there, it would be a shame if we relatively nickel and dimed them such that they could not run an appropriately funded election.

Is this something that you think you are going to be spending time on, or should we just let it lie and not worry too much about it?

I definitely plan to make this careful balance a priority.

I do feel that the United States should always be the preferred partner in advancing democratic values, rules-based order, transparent norms, and peaceful settlement of disputes.

We watched video and reports yesterday of Taliban attacks on the Parliament building in Kabul. Very disturbing to watch.

We are having a debate here about what constitutes our national security budget.

I just wanted to get your thoughts about the way in which USAID can be built more tightly into the overall national security infrastructure.

I have watched it go through a lot of permutations. I think it is better positioned today than at any time I have seen in 20 years to assume the responsibility for and act on that greater flexibility.

I think if we could talk about how to provide the Agency with greater flexibility, that would be of enormous value.

I think it is vital.

One of the issues that we talked about, which I would love to hear your thoughts on in open committee, is the issue of flexibility.

It is important, given the forward positioning of Russia in and around the region, to have that dialogue continue.

I think we need to help the Kosovar Government understand that this is not just about law enforcement.