Ben Cardin

The amount of corruption in both of those countries is alarming.

I want you to know how deeply we feel that because of the importance of the Magnitsky Act and everything you have done on that.

How should we deal with that?

I also want to join the chairman in thanking you for the testimony. And I agree with much of what both of you have stated.

The Magnitsky Act holds such abusers to account in ways that beleaguered Russian institutions cannot.

The impact of the Sergei Magnitsky Act in spotlighting human rights abuses in Russia is visible.

I also would like to commend you for your leadership on the Sergei Magnitsky Act and the Global Magnitsky bill.

There has to be some progress there or I cannot justify to taxpayers, no matter how deeply moved I am about the circumstances there, that we are going to continue to pour money into a black hole where the money does not come out in a…

I have zero confidence that if the Haitian Government tells us we want you to work through this group versus that group, that there is not some deep element of corruption or even political influence at play.

I would just point out in rebuttal for one moment Ukraine is a country that is challenged on corruption.

But rather than reinventing the wheel, why do we not just take the model that was used in trafficking?

It is difficult to get communities to cooperate with law enforcement to deal with extremists in their community.

I certainly support the administration's efforts for disclosure on shell corporations.

The fight against corruption is long and difficult, and I know that we have to stay committed to this end.

We want our development assistance to be a help to a country and not fuel corruption.

This bill will shine a light on foreign aid and ensure that U.S. foreign assistance programs are measured adequately and appropriately.

There is no stronger advocate for a strong U.S. position on stopping modern day slavery than our chairman, Senator Corker.

I always am concerned about the pressures on the budget that are used, at times, to use well-intended programs just to produce savings rather than to produce better outcomes.

I assure you, my principal objective is getting better value, better outcomes.

We have seen in previous efforts to impose delivery system changes that are more cost-effective, give you better value, that the budget can prevent it from being implemented the way it was intended.

But as they start to lose territory, is it likely that they may accelerate that part of their campaign?

We will only support forces on the ground operating strictly under Iraqi command and control.

First of all, Shia militias have to act under the control of the Iraqi Government, the Iraqi state.

What happens after we take territory? We have had military success in the past. Can we hold that military success?

ISIL's territory is shrinking, losing nearly 50 percent of territory once controlled in Iraq and 20 percent in Syria.