Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for providing leadership and working together to get this bill done in a bipartisan manner.

This is a bill where everybody had their input and everybody gave some and everybody said what was involved, and we were able to come up with a bill that is a compromise bill that's in the best interest of all of us, especially the men and women who serve us in the State Department abroad.

There's generally two groups of individuals that we have a huge responsibility for. They are our men and women on the battlefield, who are in the military. We need to make sure that they have everything that they need for their protection and their success in their mission. Likewise, the men and women who serve as our diplomats, what huge and important jobs they have. We have an absolute responsibility to make sure that we give them everything that they need to make sure that they're secure so their missions can be successful.

That's what this bill does. It looks at the security issue in a manner to make sure that our embassies are safe and secure. For example, it establishes working groups to ensure that new or reopening posts are provided the necessary security measures and funding. We had some before that had to be closed. We want to make sure we look at it and focus so that they get what they need.

It requires a strategic review of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to ensure that its missions and activities are meeting current and projected needs. That's tremendously important. And it authorizes the State to utilize best value rather than lowest cost for security guard contracts at high-risk and high-threat posts.

Furthermore--which I think is absolutely key--it gives full authorization for the National Endowment for Democracy, of which I once sat as a board member, to support the work of the four affiliated core institutes, including the National Democratic Institute and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, to develop independent media, human rights protections, and other democratic institutions, values, and processes around the world. This is great work. This is work that will help democracy flourish throughout this place that we call Earth, making it a more peaceful and better place for us all to get along.

As we've seen recently, we've come a long way in the last 4 weeks in moving diplomatically and trying to resolve issues together. If we give our diplomats the kind of protection they need, then I believe that we can make sure that this place we call Earth is much safer tomorrow than it is today.

I thank, again, the chairman and the ranking member for the manner in which they have worked to resolve and bring this bill to the floor, and urge my colleagues to vote for it.

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