Antony Blinken

This budget will help us push back on advancing authoritarianism and democratic backsliding by strengthening democracies worldwide.

The GEC, for us, is a critical tool in actually being able to deal with that.

I am determined to continue to do that and very much appreciate the work that we have been able to do with this committee over the last couple of years and look forward to the work ahead.

The budget will help us push back on advancing authoritarianism and democratic backsliding by strengthening democracies around the world.

Countries make their own sovereign decisions in their international relationships.

We can't do more with less. We must increase our investments in our diplomatic and development tools if we want to strengthen our national security.

The strategy will focus, not just on the security aspects, but on promoting political engagement, on promoting economic cooperation.

Our national security hinges on this work.

Isn't it time for us to view the world through the lens, frankly, of the beginnings, the early stages of a geopolitical conflict?

However, we do not support the expansion or the alteration of the veto.

We are meeting at an inflection point. The post-Cold War era is over.

The problem that we face now is exactly what you pointed to, the edicts promulgated by the Taliban, preventing women from participating in the delivery of assistance.

I believe if we do that we will see its effectiveness in leveraging more private sector investment go up significantly.

We will have it to you by June.

That is not something that we would obviously take into account.

I think there are a number of countries, for example, where looking at some marginalized groups that have been particularly victimized, like the LGBTQI+ community, there are some countries where we have actually seen real progress in…

We may not be able to match China person for person, but we are going to be engaged in ways that we have not been.

We will be making those reports available, sharing that information with Congress within the next three weeks.

The GEC, for us, is a critical tool in actually being able to deal with that.

The immediate, acute threat posed by Russia's autocracy and aggression, most destructively, of course, through its brutal aggression against Ukraine.

An international order that values democracy and human rights, and respects international borders is not a given.

That is not something that we would obviously take into account.

Hope is always important, but of course, it has to be grounded in reality.

This budget will also strengthen our efforts to outcompete the PRC.

For the first time the United States got this on the full agenda of the G20.