Brad Sherman To Witness: 'Does The Shuttering Of USAID Cause A Problem?'

4 days ago

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) spoke about the shuttering of USAID.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. I now recognize Representative Sherman for his five minutes of questioning.

00:05I want to join the ranking member in praising USAID and the shuttering of USAID and its

00:15termination of foreign assistance projects could very well harm DFC,

00:23which has relied on USAID mission staff to help generate projects.

00:28Ms. Collinson, does the shuttering of USAID cause a problem?

00:36Yes. Thanks, Congressman. I think it does. Obviously, USAID and DFC share a development

00:44mandate broadly, but they have a very different model. Whereas USAID provides complementary grant

00:50assistance, and historically the largest share of the agency's funding has supported humanitarian

00:55response and global health services, they have really played a critical role where DFC's

01:01overseas presence has been lacking. They even helped stand up DFC's mission transaction unit,

01:07which has been key to deal origination, but also helping to monitor and track deals.

01:12There are some people who were even on the committee when we dealt with USAID

01:17who attacked USAID for having tourism development projects because they thought

01:22USAID had to be just food. They didn't realize AID standed for development or agency for

01:30international development, which of course includes tourism. I've been involved for at

01:35least a couple of decades in this with Mr. Mosbacher. He wrote the OPIC reauthorization

01:43bill in 2007, which the House passed and the Senate didn't, thus proving the wisdom of Nebraska

01:50in having a unicameral legislature. There were certain provisions we had there that I want to

01:57make sure that we have this time. One of those is a requirement that the private sector entities

02:03that are substantially involved certify that not only they, but everyone in their corporate family

02:11is abiding by U.S. sanctions, particularly those on Iran. Because we had a lot of pushback then

02:17that said, well we'll have one subsidiary benefit from this program, while we'll have a different

02:24subsidiary violating American sanctions. And so we need to have whichever entity is benefiting

02:32from the program, whichever private sector entity, certify that none of their sister

02:39corporations, parent corporations, or subsidiary corporations, or nephew corporations are violating

02:45our sanctions on Iran. Would that pose a problem in making this an effective bill, Mr. Mosbacher?

02:51No, sir.

02:51Good. We also had a provision in there that I don't know is still relevant, but it wouldn't

02:55hurt to put it in, to not fund an anti-Armenia railroad, defined as a railroad that jogs around

03:04Armenia connecting Georgia and Azerbaijan. We had that, I believe, in the bill or in your

03:11regulations. Did that cause a problem, Mr. Mosbacher?

03:13Not to my knowledge.

03:14Good. We also had provisions, I believe, that were in current statute dealing with

03:24companies not boycotting Israel. Was that a problem to carry out?

03:28No, sir.

03:31And at times, the board has had at least one member from organized labor and one member

03:39from small business. Is that currently applicable, and does it cause a problem?

03:45I don't think that's still applicable, but I will get an answer for you because there's

03:50someone here from the agency.

03:52Okay. And back in the day when it was imposed, was there a problem?

03:57No, there was not. I worked very well with that representative.

04:02Okay.

04:02Now, there's a lot of talk here about going to higher-mid-income countries. I believe

04:10Ms. Collison said that. Is there a way to structure the bill so that we give a preference

04:15to low-income countries or at least low-mid-income countries without necessarily prohibiting

04:22high-mid-income countries?

04:27Yes, Congressman. And I think actually that's a good question.

04:30Yes, Congressman. And I think actually the bill passed last year by this committee sort

04:36of helped try to strike the right balance. I would probably go a little further in terms

04:40of some guardrails around high-income investments, but it did in fact, even though it expanded

04:46DFC's ability to invest in some high-income countries, it also allowed it to do or preference

04:56low- and lower-middle-income countries. And I should say, I agree with Mr. Bosbacher that the

05:02upper-middle-income certification as it currently stands is not as workable as it needs to be.

05:08I would ask you to submit some ideas and Mr. Bosbacher and Mr. Yoho

05:13submit ideas on how we can tighten that language. And I yield back.

Brad Sherman To Witness: 'Does The Shuttering Of USAID Cause A Problem?'

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