Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I wish to discuss S. 1309, the Combating Global Corruption Act of 2019. There is heightened awareness in the United States, the Western Hemisphere region, and around the world that corruption is a serious threat to democracy, stability, global security. Corruption erodes trust and confidence in democratic institutions, the rule of law, and human rights protections. It damages America's global competitiveness and creates barriers to economic growth in international markets. It threatens our national and international security by fostering the conditions for violent extremism and weakening institutions associated with governance and accountability. As Transparency International noted in its 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index published this January, failure to curb corruption is contributing to a worldwide crisis of democracy. According to Freedom House, in 2017, democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades and marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. We have all seen the headlines, from scandals in Liberia, Hungary, and Guatemala, to the doping by Russian athletes and their subsequent ban from the 2016 Summer Olympics, to the Panama Papers. It is clear that where there are high levels of corruption we find fragile states, authoritarian states, or states suffering from internal or external conflict, in places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, and Sudan.…”