Wendy Sherman: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for including my amendment, along with one other amendment, in this en bloc. My…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for including my amendment, along with one other amendment, in this en bloc. My amendment would transfer $500,000 from the State Department's capital investments fund and put it in the U.S. Agency for Global Media fund. This extra money would allow the USAGM to begin the process of having Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast in the Sindhi language in Pakistan. There is, perhaps, nowhere in the world where it is more important for the United States to battle extremism and to reach out with a message of democracy and the message of the American people than Pakistan. Pakistan is a nuclear-armed state, the only nuclear-armed state that has ever experienced a military coup, and is a nuclear-armed state with a significant problem with terrorism. Today, the USAGM broadcasts in the Urdu language of Pakistan, which is the primary language of only 8 percent of the Pakistani population. It does not have the funds to broadcast in the Sindhi language, which would reach 40 million people. Mr. Chair, we had hearings in the subcommittee that I chair, the Subcommittee on Asia, where we focused on this issue. Just today, the relevant Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia talked about how important it was for us to reach out to the people of Sindh, to southern Pakistan, in the language that the people actually speak in their daily lives.…”