3月22日，布林肯国务卿在国会山参议院外交关系委员会就2024财年国务院预算申请的听证会上作证。以下是他的开场讲话节选。
布林肯国务卿：[...]我们正处在一个拐点，我认为这实际上在委员会主席和少数党领袖的讲话中都有所反映。后冷战世界的时代已经结束了，一场塑造和决定未来的激烈的竞争正在发生。美国对未来有着一个积极的愿景：一个自由、安全、开放与繁荣的世界。
我们相信，我们推出的预算将帮助推动那样的愿景，并在与美国人民切实相关的议题上带来成果，让我们为有效应对两大类挑战做好准备。
第一类是我们的战略竞争者构成的挑战——俄罗斯的专制和对乌克兰的侵略构成的直接和迫切的挑战，以及来自中华人民共和国的长期挑战。
第二类挑战来自一些全球面临的共同考验，包括气候危机、移民、粮食和能源不安全、大流行病，所有这些都直接影响美国人以及世界各地人们的生活和生计。
在本委员会的领导下以及两项国务院授权法案的支持下，相比几年前，美国现在处于更强有力的地缘政治位置。
我们已经从对我们自身本土的经济实力和技术优势的投资中汲了取巨大的力量，包括通过《基础设施投资与就业法案》，通过《芯片与科学法案》，通过《降低通胀法》。我们无可匹敌的盟友和伙伴网络从未如此之强。我们正在扩大我们在如印太等关键地区的存在，同时我们正在领导前所未有的联盟来对抗进犯并在世界各地应对人道主义危机。
拜登总统提出的2024财年美国国务院和美国国际发展署预算直面当下形势。该预算案将维持我们对乌克兰的安全、经济、能源及人道主义支持，以确保普京总统发动的战争依然是一项战略失败。
这项预算将通过加强世界各地的民主政体——包括通过支持独立媒体、反击腐败、捍卫自由与公平的选举，帮助我们顶回威权主义的推进和民主的倒退。它还将使美国得以支付美国对国际组织的贡献——因为无论何时何处，但凡是对关乎我们人民生计的国际规则进行辩论和决策，我们都不能缺席。
这项预算将让我们能够继续领导世界应对全球挑战，从粮食和能源不安全到气候和卫生健康危机。
这项预算将推进我们美国国务院现代化的努力，包括通过增加我们的灵活培训预算，更新我们的技术，实施“多元、公平、共融及可及”动议，包括让我们的海外使团更加无障碍。
最后，这项预算将推进一个对我而言是优先事项的事，——并且我知道对你们之中的很多人来说也是如此，那就是支持“持久欢迎行动”（Enduring Welcome），也就是举我们全政府之力来重新安置我们的阿富汗盟友们。
布林肯国务卿讲话全文请见：
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-opening-remarks-before-the-senate-committee-on-foreign-relations-on-the-fy24-department-of-state-budget-request/
“We meet at an inflection point…”
Secretary Blinken, March 22, 2023
On March 22, Secretary Blinken testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the FY24 Department of State budget request on Capitol Hill. Below are the excerpts of his opening remarks.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: [...]We meet at an inflection point and I think that’s reflected actually in what both the chairman and ranking member said. The post-Cold War world era is over, and there is an intense competition underway to determine, to shape, what comes next. The United States has a positive vision for the future: a world that is free, that is secure, that is open, that is prosperous.
The budget that we’re putting forward will help us advance that vision and deliver on issues that are important to most of the American people by preparing us to engage effectively two broad sets of challenges.
The first set is posed by our strategic competitors – the immediate, acute threat posed by Russia’s autocracy and its aggression against Ukraine, and the long-term challenge from the People’s Republic of China.
The second set is posed by some shared global tests, including the climate crisis, migration, food and energy insecurity, pandemics, all of which have a direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of Americans as well as people around the world.
With this committee’s leadership and support across two State Department authorization bills, the United States is in a stronger geopolitical position than we were a couple of years ago.
We’ve drawn enormous power from investments we’ve made in our own economic strength and technological edge at home, including through the Infrastructure Investment Act, through the CHIPS and Science Act, through the Inflation Reduction Act. Our unmatched network of alliances and partnerships has never been stronger. We’re expanding our presence in critical regions like the Indo-Pacific, and we’re leading unprecedented coalitions to confront aggression and address humanitarian crises around the world.
The President’s FY24 Budget Request for the State Department and USAID meet this moment head on.
The budget will sustain our security, economic, energy, and humanitarian support for Ukraine to ensure that President Putin’s war remains a strategic failure.
[...]
The budget will help us push back on advancing authoritarianism and democratic backsliding by strengthening democracies around the world – including through supporting independent media, countering corruption, defending free and fair elections. And it will allow us to pay our contributions to international organizations because we need to be at the table wherever and whenever new international rules that affect the livelihoods of our people are actually being debated and decided.
The budget will allow us to continue leading the world in addressing global challenges, from food and energy insecurity to climate and health crises.
[...]
The budget will advance our efforts to modernize the State Department, including by expanding our training float; updating our technology; carrying out diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives, including to make our overseas missions more accessible.
[...]
Finally, the budget will further a priority for me, and I know for many of you, and that is supporting Enduring Welcome, our whole-of-government effort to resettle our Afghan allies.
Read Secretary Blinken’s full remarks:
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-opening-remarks-before-the-senate-committee-on-foreign-relations-on-the-fy24-department-of-state-budget-request/