John Kerry

Well, Senator, look, I am glad that we have designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

No sanction has been lifted. Nothing in the architecture of the sanctions regime has been changed whatsoever.

My hope is it will not interfere, that what happens in Ukraine will not interfere.

I will make clear again, as we have throughout, that while we respect that Russia has interests in Ukraine, particularly in Crimea, that in no way--no way--justifies the military intervention the world has witnessed.

I am going to be very brief with my opening statement. I want to begin by, first of all, just telling you what a privilege it is for me to lead this extraordinary department.

And so the goal hasn't changed, but we are in a negotiation where the real goal is to guarantee that they cannot get a nuclear weapon.

The United States, led in many ways by the Senate--you were a member there at the time--went through the careful and, I think, painstaking process of both diplomacy and tough sanctions.

I have been impressed by how united our European allies are on this.

Under the basing act, the basing agreement, which permits Russians to have their forces in Crimea, they are permitted to have up to about 25,000 troops under that.

Jordan is a critical ally to the United States. Jordan has been a partner with Israel, a partner with the United States, a significant partner in the region, for peace and for stability.

We are inadvertently hurting ourselves by sending a message that we are not prepared to lead.

We must have IMF reform. We must have a quota.

Our hope is to have Russia join in respecting international law.

There are strong indications that could lead you to draw the conclusion Bob Gates did, and there are other thoughts out there that suggest that something short of the full annexation might also be achievable.

This budget also strengthens our partnerships where so many of our economic and security interests converge, in the East Asia and Pacific region.

There is simply no way the richest and most powerful nation in the world can simply look away.

What's impossible to calculate is the far greater price our country would pay for inaction.

The costs for Russia's violations of international law--the cost of making Russia more isolated--not just from the United States, but from the international community--is a cost that Russia should not want to bear.

I firmly believe that, with your help, and I thank you for it, this committee has done an extraordinary job of helping us to be able to strike a balance between the need to sustain long-term investments in American leadership and the…

I also think that we have to remember that foreign policy, in 2014, is not all foreign.

What we do matters in the Korean Peninsula, where we are working with our partners in the Republic of Korea, to make sure that we can meet any threat and to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

It makes America more secure. It also opens up relationships that wind up growing economies.

I would like to think that after fighting two long, inconclusive wars, the Secretary's diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and with Iran would have strong bipartisan support.

There is no justification, no legality to this referendum that is taking place.

As we make these investments around the world, we can never eliminate every risk--especially in a world where our vital interests are not confined to secure, prosperous capitals.