James E. Risch

Prior to the war, Ukraine had a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

They say, 'Well, things have changed because it is unpatriotic to be corrupt.'

With all the money that has gone in there... were unable to find any significant corruption in Ukraine.

It strikes me, too, that there are two very different buckets here. One is where the government itself is involved in the corruption versus ones where the government is trying to do something about it or at least looking the other way.

I assume you are familiar with the report that was done by the nonprofit NGO, Global Financial Integrity, in 2022, and I guess it is a little shocking in there, their explanation, or their shining a light on China's role in drug…

My bill, the Assad Anti-Normalization Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House, awaits committee action and is a key tool to hold Assad accountable.

Corruption is an issue that undermines the health, safety, security, and economic prosperity of billions of people around the globe.

We must also work more closely with Russia's neighbors to help them unwind the corrupt networks that both smuggle in sanctioned goods and undermine local governance.

In fact, corruption is China's largest export.

Russia keeps its war machine running by using corruption to evade sanctions.

Strategic corruption, the weaponization of corrupt practices for geopolitical gain, is a key vehicle for Russian and Chinese malign influence.

I would strongly suggest that you guys revisit your efforts in that regard and see how you might be able to make them more attractive so when they do bite on the hook that it is our hook and not the Chinese.

Have we thought about at all offering the same kind of services?

I passed the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act--I assume you are familiar with that--and it was in 2022, and it provides State with much needed flexibilities to stand up our overseas missions.

I have been intrigued by the fact that the Chinese have been modestly successful in these policing agreements that they have entered into with some of the countries.

This is a bipartisan issue, and we should do that.

We have had a long history of friendship with the Pacific Islands.

These agreements are foremost a promise to the three compact countries.

I mean, we all want to do something about it, but somebody needs to tell us what the money is going to go for, what a path forward is there for, and you have described the situation as bleak.

When President Biden ordered an extraordinary draw down of the Emerson Trust in April of 2022 it took 12 months and $388 million to transport $282 million worth of food.

Well, I appreciate that and certainly those efforts are laudable and need to be doubled down because there is nothing more frustrating than trying to do the right thing and then seeing things wind up in the wrong hands.

Let us be clear. Congress will never appropriate its way out of this current global food security crisis.

We never talked about it, and I am not going to get into the details here but one of the real things that we really need to focus on is not a drop of oil moves without it going into a ship, and that ship has to have insurance or the ship…

Money is the sinews of war. Iran understands that. If you do not go after the money, it is just not a serious strategy.

Congress should unite to send a message to Tehran that its terrorism comes at a significant cost.