James E. Risch

This is a time for U.S. leadership and resolve.

The budget's biggest focus is on climate change. That focus does not help Ukraine or Israel or help our allies compete against China.

This proposed budget does contain a poison pill... in the form of a, quote, 'Green Climate Fund' which proposes to transfer U.S. taxpayer money to China through the United Nations.

It appears we are at the start of a new era in global affairs, one marked by growing instability, increasing competition, and fraying economic relationships.

Hope is not a strategy.

I am glad you are paying attention to it. It is the right thing to do.

You have to have that rigorous debate between the security professionals, between the people who are building, and we want to do this right.

Can you give me just a--I do not want a blah, blah, blah, answer.

I respectfully disagree. They have got it, they are in front of this committee.

I do hold the State Department responsible for the failure to provide the information.

They deserve our best.

In short, it seems like the Department currently cannot get out of its own way and focus on what really matters, which is advancing U.S. national security and keeping Americans safe.

I am not going to support anybody that was complicit in the horrific treatment of U.S. diplomats in China during COVID-19.

We deserve to know whether Mr. Malley's crimes impacted U.S. Iran policy, influenced nuclear discussions, or swayed the President's decisions.

Our experts on the ground should make these decisions, not folks sitting 5,000 miles away in Washington.

It appears to many of us that the Department under President Biden is more concerned with pursuing its own arbitrary DEI goals than results focused efforts to modernize its operations and work force.

I am tired of the Department slow walking key reforms that would improve its efficiency and effectiveness.

We are not going to outcompete China with our personnel sitting behind Embassy walls. They need to get out.

This means the Department cannot deliver on its ambitious agenda to open new embassies in places where we are directly contending with China.

You are being too tough on ITAR. ITAR is really, really important when you are trying to withhold secrets from Russia, and China, and others.

AUKUS is an outstanding enterprise. It is the NATO of the 21st century right now for the Indo-Pacific.

Nobody has said anything to me. I turned on TV set. And there it is that somebody has made a decision that countermands the agreement that we made.

I have never agreed with every decision made by any Administration since I have been in the U.S. Senate on every issue.

The Biden administration has been very open in its communications with us, and I think respects greatly the legislative branch of government.

I want to ask you about that.