Secretary Lew, I join Chairwoman Granger in welcoming you here today.
As a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, you are keenly aware of the factors that go into the preparation of an annual budget proposal. It really is a statement of values.
The administration’s Fiscal Year 2016 proposal calls for investments in research, education, training, and infrastructure. Instead of relying on the outdated and unrealistic budget caps under sequestration, the President calls for them to be replaced with more targeted spending cuts, program integrity measures, and the closure of some outdated tax loopholes. The budget, rightly, calls for an end to the mindless austerity of sequestration.
My colleagues may not agree with the administration’s specific proposals, but I hope they can agree on the premise that a path forward must be found. We did it before with the Murray-Ryan plan, and we’re going to have to do it again. There is simply no way an appropriations process can succeed unless we put in place reasonable allocations that give these bills a chance of being enacted. Without such an agreement discretionary funding would be at its lowest level, as a percentage of GDP, since the Eisenhower administration.
The President’s 2016 budget request reflects the importance of our continued multilateral cooperation with international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. It promotes our own economic and national security interests while also continuing important efforts to address the root causes of instability -- poverty, poor health, and lack of education. The IMF is an excellent tool to help stabilize struggling economies and provides much needed protection of our own financial institutions in the event of a foreign financial emergency. That is why I remain perplexed by some of my colleagues who continue to oppose quota reform for the IMF while simultaneously warning of a deepening European financial crisis, or of a new regional economic crisis following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. I believe we need to maintain our leadership within the IMF, expand its lending capacity, and support the quota reforms.
I also want to mention global climate change. In addition to addressing environmental concerns, these important programs help reduce the instability caused by population displacement, address declines in global food supply, and mitigate major shortages of water. Failure to provide for these priorities risks creating conditions for greater danger: failed states and populations even more vulnerable to radicalization. I look forward to hearing about the administration’s efforts in the coming fiscal year, as well hearing an update on the effectiveness of prior funding.
Mr. Secretary, your Department leads the world in disrupting terrorist financing networks and enforcing sanctions against countries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea, and I commend the sustained implementation of these efforts. I hope to hear what additional economic sanctions the administration will seek if negotiations with Iran fail to yield an agreement permanently denying Iran nuclear weapons capability.
Your leadership is additionally crucial in implementing two key prongs of the Administration’s response to the Ukraine crisis: economic support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. With respect to Russia, is the threat of new sanctions having any effect on Putin? And what measures has Russia taken to retaliate against U.S. and European sanctions?
Lastly, I hope you will address recent concerns about some donors providing loans, instead of grants, as contributions to multilateral institutions. The Committee needs to understand what the implication of this trend is for U.S. contributions to these organizations.
Thank you for being with us today. Our country is privileged to have your experience and thoughtful leadership.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
