Thank you, Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul, for holding this markup as we consider key legislation across the spectrum of foreign policy challenges facing the United States and its partners around the globe.

I have never had any doubt about your integrity or impartiality. So, I thank you for your service.

In particular, Mr. Chairman, we can join together to support your legislation, H.R. 5497, the Burma Act of 2021, so that we may rightly punish those who have overthrown the will of the Burmese people.

It is almost laughable to promise that to the American people if our own Justice Department is manipulated as it was during the Trump presidency.

Yes, and we are fighting very hard to be sure that you have additional resources to get this work done.

During the Trump Administration we saw over and over and over again evidence of Mr. Trump's personal grudges dictating DOJ policy.

The Burma Act of 2021 would create sanction regime against the Tatmadaw, the State Administration Council, and other responsible parties that represent a strong, proportionate response to their deliberate sabotaging of Burmese democracy.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Across the country, the opioid epidemic is devastating families and communities. In Rhode Island, the COVID-19 pandemic is only worsening this crisis. In 2020 alone, accidental overdose deaths in Rhode…

This hearing is a reminder, really, of the continuing obligation that we have to help support emerging democracies around the world.

We saw firsthand in Afghanistan how corruption really can erode public confidence in government and ultimately jeopardize longtime stability.

I think supporting civil society is really important, because civil society plays right now the role of checks and balances on the work and decisions of the President.

I do want to ask unanimous consent to place into the record a Fortune Magazine article to respond to Mr. Jordan's representations that is entitled, 'Trump to Leave Office With the Worst Job Record Since Herbert Hoover.'