As Prepared For Delivery

 

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased that Dr. Susan Rice has been nominated to be our Ambassador to the United Nations. I have known Susan Rice for a long time and was lucky enough to travel with her in 1999, along with then - U.N. Ambassador Holbrooke, to nine African countries as we tried to bring peace to eastern Congo. Unfortunately, a decade later there is still grave instability in central Africa, but Dr. Rice, if you are confirmed I look forward to working with you again on these efforts. I am also pleased that the President-elect has decided to restore the U.N. Ambassador position to a cabinet rank, as it was under President Clinton. This decision is an indication of his strong commitment to multilateralism and to collaboration with our friends and allies.

 

“For all its flaws, the U.N. plays an important role in advancing our foreign policy priorities and we need to ensure it receives adequate support by providing our full financial contributions and working to reverse the massive accumulation of arrears that has now reached nearly $1.5 billion. It is in our national security interest to ensure the U.N. is well resourced and has the capabilities it needs to undertake a range of activities – whether responding to humanitarian crises or providing peacekeepers to countries pulling themselves out of conflict and beginning the long process of reconstruction. 

 

“The United Nations also needs significant reform in order to become a more effective organization. Greater transparency, accountability, fiscal responsibility and burden sharing are all essential. As a major financial contributor and member of the U.N. Security Council, the United States is well positioned to play a leading role in pushing for reform, and I see no better candidate than Dr. Susan Rice to be at the forefront of this effort and to build support at the U.N. for American foreign policy. Moreover, given that so many of the challenges facing the Security Council are on the African continent, I believe Dr. Rice’s previous experience and expertise would allow her to lead the United States in making a real and lasting difference. Such leadership could not be more urgent when we look at the horrific crises that persist in Sudan, eastern Congo, Somalia or Zimbabwe.”