Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

I am so honored to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), a member of the Armed Services Committee and a distinguished combat veteran who has served our country honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan with the United…

I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to a gentleman who knows a lot about the threats that are facing our Nation, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. {time} 1210

I would like to thank Mr. Berman for giving us 8 minutes of his time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Griffin), the vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, and an Iraq war veteran who continues to serve as a major in the U.S. Army Reserves.

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry), the chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

I believe the opportunity for close and bipartisan work exists, and I look forward to working with the chairman and the other members of the committee to move ahead on this issue.

Our State Department is continuing to impose pressure tactics and unjust visa policies against those who defended the sanity of the Honduran constitution.

I commend MCC's commitment to working with the current Government of Honduras to advance its efforts in support of accountable governance.

I think it has improved and we still have to keep the pressure on them to make them improve more.

I think that it is going to play a key role in the Middle East, where we can set up, as you mentioned, we can set up U.N. offices to do democracy building, rather than the U.S. going in.

So I think that in Haiti and in other places, where we would possibly have had troops, the U.N. is covering that for us.

Reform first. Pay later.

This administration's prior decision to cut support from pro-democracy civil groups in Egypt and to only fund groups pre-cleared with the Mubarak government is a mistake we must never repeat.

The U.S. should never have been supporting a government with Hezbollah. Now, with Hezbollah in control, what is the justification for continued U.S. taxpayer investment?

We have failed to effectively use our resources to help build strong, accountable institutions that protect basic human rights.

We should not associate the protests in Jordan and Bahrain with events transpiring in Tripoli, Cairo, and Beirut.

Madam Speaker, we must maintain firm ties with our allies, and enemies must be clearly identified. I hope that this administration can tell who's who.

Thank you so much for your excellent testimony.

And I would especially appreciate your responses and the Department of State's responses to the U.N. overpayment issue and the refund.

My colleagues, reforming the U.N. should not be a Republican or Democrat issue. It is in the interest of all Americans.

I am going to reintroduce legislation that conditions our contributions--our strongest leverage--on real, sweeping reform.

Ambassador Susan Rice says that the U.S. approach to the U.N. is, 'We pay our bills. We push for real reform.'

What have we gotten in return from the U.N.? Here are a few examples.

Unfortunately, right now, the answer to all three questions is 'No.'