Chris Coons

Would further bureaucratic delay in resolving these issues strike you as cruel and inappropriate?

Particularly Food for Peace should be highlighted here because that is our food aid account, and that has been--there is a proposed cut of 30 percent of that budget.

What are we doing to avoid the significant security challenges facing Somalia spilling over into Kenya and Ethiopia?

Much of Kenya's power is delivered by hydroelectric power, which, due to the record drought, has dropped by more than half.

As you noted, Senator Coons, the FEWS NET famine early warning system alerted us in August that a drought was on the horizon.

I would like to call to order today's hearing focusing on one of the most critical issues in the world today, responding to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.

There are proposals on the other side of the Hill to slash the very accounts that are providing the assistance.

The U.S. contribution, while extremely generous and we recognize it as such, remains under half of what the Bush administration contributed in 2008.

The time is of the essence, that there are literally tens of thousands of children who are starving, and hundreds of thousands who are at risk of or are on the verge of starvation.

The Government of Ethiopia frankly has been a very, very good partner in terms of supporting this refugee population.

Second, several of you have referenced threatened cuts to U.S. aid. The House has taken up the relevant budget and has proposed--I think Mr. Konyndyk suggested it was a 30-percent cut over last year, 50 percent over the year 2008 funding…

This is a children's crisis. The haunting images we have seen and the facts of this emergency speak for themselves.

This is the gravest humanitarian crisis facing the world today.

I hear a common theme. Obviously there are both naturally caused or occurring climate-driven causes for this regional drought and famine, but also those that arise directly from al-Shabaab and its control of a significant area.

We have a very solid plan that Senator Carper has advocated for tirelessly.

Hopefully, this common-sense, no-cost bipartisan amendment will pass----

Thank you very much, Senator Udall.

I just want to thank you for your recognition that addiction affects every family, every community across this country, and we need to have a balanced approach, balancing law enforcement with treatment and with community engagement, and I…

In my view, the United States has to maintain the resources and flexibility needed to respond to other emerging security threats such as those in Iran and Somalia and specifically Yemen.

I am deeply concerned, as are other members of the committee, about Yemen, given the presence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and recent political upheaval and other sources of instability.

I'm concerned about coordination, sustainability, the quality of the troops in some of the peacekeeping missions.

The recent violence in Abyei and Southern Kordofan, and the displacement of many, many people, remind us of the very real human toll of conflict.

While we all celebrate the establishment of South Sudan as the 54th nation in Africa, I remain concerned... about the path forward.

I think we ought to have a very firm timetable for addressing it, because otherwise it just lingers as a source of conflict.

That's why both the international community and the United States, in my view, must continue their sustained efforts to urge peaceful resolution.