Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified at four separate Congressional hearings in the past two days to discuss the Department of State budget request for FY 2011. She appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, and then in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations today. In each of these hearings, Clinton emphasized the United States’ commitment to “developing a new architecture of cooperation to meet global challenges”:

With China, we are seeking areas of common purpose while standing firm where we differ. We are making concrete our new beginning with the Muslim world. We are strengthening partnerships with allies in Europe and Asia, with our friends here in our hemisphere, with countries from those that are rising and emerging powers to those who have challenges.

Clinton noted that the three areas in which the State Department plans to make significant new investments in FY 2011 include:

1. Security of “frontline states” Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq
   As previously reported by the Alliance, nearly 60 per cent of the increase to the international affairs budget in FY 2011 will go to these frontline states; included in this area is the Kerry-Lugar-Berman initiative (S 1707) <http://www.alliance-exchange.org/policy-monitor/09/25/2009/update-bill-promote-ties-pakistan> to promote ties with Pakistan, which includes the mandate to “expand people-to-people engagement between the two countries, through increased educational, technical, and cultural exchanges and other methods.”
2. Investing in development
   As Clinton said, “This budget makes targeted investments in fragile societies—which, in our interconnected world, bear heavily on our own security and prosperity.”
3. Investing in the recruitment, training, and empowerment of “the right people for the job”
   The FY 2011 budget will expand the Foreign Service by more than 600 positions, including an additional 410 for the State Department and 200 for USAID.

Clinton also kept a strong focus on ensuring no wasteful spending and tangible results for every dollar spent: “This budget must support programs vital to our national security, our national interests, and our leadership in the world, while guarding against waste. I believe it achieves those objectives.”

The full texts of Clinton’s testimonies at these four hearings can be read on the State Department website.