Bob Casey

I wanted to move to the security issue, which each of you have mentioned more than once, I think.

The amount that has been pledged, $160 million recently, is not so greatly different than what it was in the last couple of fiscal years.

Our Government is providing substantial help, here. The Obama administration has committed about $150 million to assist displaced Iraqis in this current fiscal year, 2009.

I think it's--look, and I think this is an important point and sometimes at hearings we don't have the record very clear.

One question that I have had, and others have had, is what's happening at the senior levels of the government.

I guess the volume, too, is a problem, huh?

Well, thank you. We'll never know the exact number, but at least we're in agreement that there is a consensus, at least about a range.

So, according to what you're saying, the number outside of Iraq is too high, possibly--the 2 million.

The United States is directly responsible for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Iraqis.

We have a both a moral and a security interest in ensuring the safety and welfare of Iraqi refugees and IDPs.

This is an issue that has not received near enough attention here in Washington.

That's a big number.

This isn't just about Iraqi refugees, it's about how our country's policy will be carried out in Iraq.

The hearing of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian and Central Asian Affairs will now come to order.

Training becomes the priority.

Well, I am running out of time. I just will put one commercial in for a subcommittee hearing we are having at the end of the month on Iraqi refugees on March 31.

We have to help them to help themselves. It is not up to us to develop a system of government.

To have Senator Inouye and Senator Warner give you that kind of recommendation is high praise, indeed.

I really worry that we are--we could be headed down the same path unless we are careful.

I would like to thank Chairman Kohl for scheduling this important hearing on Alzheimer's disease.

I think it is important to point out in this debate about your nomination--there is some debate and we should not shy away from confronting that debate--that you have had a commitment as a career Foreign Service officer.

I do have concerns--and our subcommittee, where we handle all of the foreign assistance--I am concerned about the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's report that said, of the $21 billion in the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund…

The Global Food Security Act of 2009 (S. 384), introduced by Senators Richard Lugar and Robert Casey, is intended to set in motion a U.S. Government strategy to address the food security needs of the developing world.

The back to the basics approach articulated by the Global Food Security Act of 2009 is refreshing.

This is a response to that.