Brian Schatz: “I want to thank Senator Coons for his leadership on trying to restore international order. And that is what we are…”

“I want to thank Senator Coons for his leadership on trying to restore international order. And that is what we are talking about. The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee is talking about reforms to the way we deliver aid. Look, 10 days ago, I had a conversation with Senator Graham, who is the chairman of the committee that has jurisdiction over spending in the State Department--I am now the ranking member of that committee--and we talked about the opportunities for reform. We talked about the need to align American foreign policy with USAID. And to the extent that we are all alarmed at the Belt and Road Initiative, to the extent that we watch what China does internationally and we think, ``How smart of them; we should do something like that,'' the response should be to better align USAID with the State Department's objectives, with our geopolitical strategy, but not to eliminate our power internationally. And I think the point that has to be--has to be--understood right now--because some Republicans that I am talking to kind of agree that we don't want to get rid of foreign aid, we don't want to get rid of USAID, but they want to institute some reforms; they want to have a negotiation. Fine. Understand two things: One, this freeze is just flatly illegal. Let me explain what I mean. Every year, we pass an appropriations bill.…”