Ranking Member Lee Statement at Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the United States Agency for International Development

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), Ranking Member of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget request for the United States Agency for International Development:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

One of the reasons I value serving on this subcommittee is I get a chance to serve with colleagues who, like me, are curious about the world and want to put in the work to tackle the big challenges we face together.

And make no mistake: those challenges are immense. An eruption of violence and war. Efforts by dictators to roll back human rights and undermine democracies. Violations of international borders. Proliferation of weapons, including nuclear weapons. Famines and pandemics. Man-made climate change that is destroying crops, lives, and—in the case of some island states—entire countries.

These challenges can't be solved by one nation. They require teamwork. They require alliances. And they require true partnership.

When I travel abroad, I often meet with the people leading on these issues in their home countries. And let me tell you, they want to partner with the United States. In fact, many of them would prefer to partner with us, instead of China or Russia.

But they are asking tough questions about the United States as a partner. They are asking whether we are truly committed to sticking with them, and willing to invest the funds and resources necessary to truly address these problems. And they are asking us to take their views and priorities seriously, as true partners do.

If you look at the FY24 budget we passed a few weeks ago and where this Congress is headed, I fear many people around the world are losing faith in us as a partner. Twenty years after we started first talking about the three-legged stool of national security—diplomacy, development, and defense—we are no closer to bringing balance to this stool. In fact, we have never been so lop-sided.

The resources we spend on defense dwarf the resources we spend on our presence overseas, the pursuit of American interests, and our most basic partnerships to build a better, safer world.

Our military leaders get it. Famously, General Mattis told Congress a decade ago, "If you don't fully fund the State Department, then I have to buy more ammunition."

But no matter how many times our own military leaders say it, successive Congresses have refused to make the civilian investments needed to take the pressure off military action. In fact, in the most recent appropriations cycle, diplomacy and development were cut by six percent—while the Pentagon budget was increased by twenty-seven billion dollars.

We cannot keep going like this. If we are serious about confronting these challenges, then it must be reflected in our budget. Without sufficient development funding, we face a future stuck in cycles of crisis that require more and more humanitarian interventions—and even military interventions—and result in a less stable world.

We know our colleagues want us to invest more in diplomacy and development. I've seen the requests Members make each year. For fiscal year 2024, Members of the House submitted more than seven thousand individual requests for this bill.

Those Members have done so—and continue to do so—because they know these investments are crucial for American leadership—American security—American interests—and, most importantly, American values.

Administrator Power, you've dedicated your life to this mission, of advocating for governments to prioritize basic human dignity. I am so proud you are there at USAID, leading an institution and workforce who are just as selflessly dedicated to that mission.

But we need to make sure this administration and this President are making the case as well as they should. So I look forward to partnering with you, Madame Administrator, with you, Chairman Diaz Balart, and with all the Members of this subcommittee to make the case for why this bill needs to invest more this year, and in future years, to serve America, the American people, and the world. Thank you, and I yield back.