WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered opening remarks at the hearing on the nomination of U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN). In her opening remarks, Ranking Member Shaheen underscored the importance of U.S. leadership and investment in lifesaving UN programs and peacekeeping missions and the need to sustain U.S. engagement with the UN to advance our priorities. She also emphasized the importance of supporting women and girls with family planning resources and reproductive and maternal care through the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), receiving Representative Stefanik’s commitment to personally review these lifesaving programs. You can watch her remarks here.
In part, the Ranking Member said: "Whether fighting the spread of infectious diseases or stemming the flow of fentanyl that kills Americans, combating transnational crime that cost Americans billions of dollars [or] negotiating political settlements to dangerous conflicts, the work of the United Nations directly affects Americans all across this country. We benefit from UN peacekeeping missions that would otherwise fall to the American military."
She concluded: "When the United States take a leadership role at the UN, Americans—and people around the world—are better off."
Ranking Member Shaheen also asked Representative Stefanik and received her commitment to personally review the work of the UN Population Fund, the UN Agency mandated to provide family planning, maternal care and to respond to gender-based violence. You can watch the Ranking Member’s questions here.
The Ranking Member’s remarks, as delivered, are below.
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome Congresswoman Stefanik. Welcome to your family who’s with you today as well.
Now, whether fighting the spread of infectious diseases or stemming the flow of fentanyl that kills Americans, combating transnational crime that cost Americans billions of dollars [or] negotiating political settlements to dangerous conflicts, the work of the United Nations directly affects Americans all across this country.
We benefit from UN peacekeeping missions that would otherwise fall to the American military. We are better off because of efforts to stabilize societies and provide life-saving assistance in places like Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. And we don’t just do this out of the goodness of our hearts, we fund these efforts because they make Americans—as Secretary Rubio said in his hearing — ‘safer, stronger and more prosperous.’ Equally important, if we don’t do it, our adversaries and competitors will.
Representative Stefanik, welcome, again, to this committee. Congratulations on your nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. From working in the Bush Administration on the Domestic Policy Council to being the youngest woman elected to Congress, you have strong credentials and the relevant experience for this role. But today I’d really like to hear your vision for the United States at the United Nations. I have certainly taken note of the skepticism in the United Nations expressed by others in the incoming Administration and also expressed by your introducers today and Chairman Risch.
In the past, you have voted to defund the United Nations and its specialized agencies. Certainly, I would agree that the United Nations is an imperfect body, but the UN is also a force multiplier of American taxpayer money. U.S. disengagement is something our adversaries want, especially Russia and China.
At his hearing last week, Secretary Rubio said China is our ‘most potent and dangerous adversary.’ And Beijing’s contribution to the UN is almost seven times what it was two decades ago. China has had great success in increasing the number of Chinese nationals employed at the UN. And so, when we cut back, they are ready and very eager to fill that void.
Under the first Trump Administration, the U.S. withdrew from UNESCO – an agency that among many things, combats antisemitism and establishes international technology standards that affect our industries. When we stepped back, Beijing stepped in and is now UNESCO’s largest financial contributor. So, I’m really interested in your thoughts on how the U.S. can compete with China across every United Nations agency.
One agency at the UN that I think is particularly important is the UN Population Fund, or UNFPA. Globally, one in every five girls is married before reaching age 18. Too many girls in too many countries, as you know very well, face female genital mutilation and forced child marriage. UNFPA provides critical reproductive and maternal care. It reaches three times as many countries as our bilateral family planning program. And in some areas like Darfur and Kordofan it is the main provider of lifesaving reproductive health supplies – things like childbirth delivery kits that reduce infection for women giving birth outside clinical settings. I believe its work is irreplaceable.
Now if confirmed, I hope we can work together to advance United States’ interests at the UN. Because when the United States take a leadership role at the UN, Americans—and people around the world—are better off. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I welcome the testimony of Congresswoman Stefanik and hearing her views.
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