Antony Blinken

We are fully prepared to move forward.

It is hugely important to our ability to attract, but also retain the best talent and we are in a competition for talent.

We are working to engage these governments, whether it is Honduras, whether it is Guatemala, whether it is El Salvador.

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

Ninety-six percent of it is coming through ports of entry.

The United States has a positive vision for the future: a world that's free, secure, open and prosperous.

I do, but it is also based on the--what we hear.

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 made a commitment that I would see a marker of my success or not in this job whether or not the institution made real progress in building an institution that actually reflects the country that we are there to represent.

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

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

I want to see us be able to reestablish an ongoing presence in Libya.

The first set is posed by our strategic competitors--the immediate, acute threat posed by Russia's autocracy and aggression.

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

I think it is a way of--strongly encouraging, countries to take steps that they need to take to improve the human rights picture.

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

We fundamentally elevated the Pacific Island countries in our foreign policy and in our diplomacy.

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

We have a backlog, a very significant backlog that has built up.

I would say the best description is hand-in-glove.

We need more people to address some of these emerging priorities and emergencies.

This budget will sustain our security, economic, energy, and humanitarian support for Ukraine to ensure President Putin's war remains a strategic failure.