Patrick Leahy

I have seen some nice press releases, but I have not seen any steps that would actually get him out.

And there is the disturbing fact that it apparently activated shortly after Alan Gross, a USAID subcontractor who was sent to Cuba to help provide citizens access to the Internet, was arrested.

I would like to see free markets in Cuba. I would like to see an openness there. I would like to see an end to the repression of people who speak up for their rights in Cuba.

I do not see where they have achieved anything. He does not either. That is why he started a hunger strike.

It is long past time for the administration and the Cuban Government to negotiate a resolution of this ordeal so Mr. Gross can return home.

I think the Agency and Congress need to think through the U.S. Government's moral responsibilities to any American, even a lowly contractor, that it puts into harms way by ordering them to engage in programs that are illegal under the host…

And its purpose was to influence political conditions abroad by gathering information about Cuban cell phone users to encourage opposition to the Cuban Government.

This one had, this one from the get-go had no possibility of working. That is my problem with it.

There are USAID people who are doing wonderful things that you and I would applaud all over the world, many at great risk to themselves because of the places they are in.

There is the clandestine nature of the program that was not disclosed to the appropriations subcommittee with oversight responsibility.

I am worried about our foreign aid programs. I am worried that they are not as relevant or effective as we may think and say they are.

We should remember that while we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, U.S. citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year of captivity.

So the Helms-Burton Act would make sure that, to show how tough we are, we could not help Cuban children who have health needs.

I struggle with whether we should cut off aid to Uganda or not.

Did we tell the people in Cuba that this was a U.S. Government program?

I completely agree with your concept that we have got to make it possible for the people in the area to do things, to be able to help themselves.

We will continue to work on this issue.

There is the risk to young, unsuspecting Cuban cellphone users who had no idea this was a U.S. Government-funded activity.

Your leadership on behalf of America's engagement around the world on human rights, on civil society, on supporting local institutions...

There is a way to resolve it, there is ample precedent for doing so, it is in our national interest, and it could be done immediately if the Administration really wants to.

I have seen some of those successes. I have seen your people in the field, sometimes in dangerous conditions, and I applaud you for that.

I am optimistic about USAID Forward and its focus on country ownership, and eventually working yourselves, USAID, out of a job.

On the face of it there are several aspects about this that are troubling.

Whose idea was it for this specific program? I have read the legislation.

I know it was in place before you arrived. But do you know whose idea it was?