ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you so much, Charles [Kiamie], for that introduction, for your years of leadership at both USAID, and within the Arab Americans in Foreign Affairs Agencies, ERG or employee resource group. I've benefited a lot from our engagements and just grateful for the candor and the wisdom that you've offered me personally.
Thank you to Matthew [Jaber Stiffler] and the Arab American National Museum for everything you do to shine a light on Arab American activists who have helped write the American story. So many Arab Americans, including many here with us today, have dedicated their lives and careers to fighting for dignity and opportunity for every human being. And it goes without saying, I suspect to this group, but your contributions are as varied as they are numerous.
You are helping partner governments in Southeast Asia, for example, shore up their data and surveillance systems to track the outbreaks of tuberculosis fighting for a world where no individual needs to die from a disease that is both treatable and preventable. And fighting for a world where living healthy lives is not a privilege but a right. You are leading our inclusive development work, creating new ways for this agency to partner with smaller local organizations, particularly those serving historically marginalized communities so that communities have the resources they need to fully implement their own solutions to the challenges they face. You are leading efforts to expand the coalition's of those investing in human dignity, spearheading partnerships with private sector companies that can help our own impact exceed what our USAID resources alone can achieve. You're pioneers in the progress beyond program efforts and with the hustle mindset that we all need, given resource constraints and growing challenges. And of course, you have moved the needle as well in important ways for our Americans.
It was after all, Arab Americans across USAID, the State Department and the broader interagency including our own former colleague, Rita Stephan, who joined civic actors nationwide, encouraging the Office of Management and Budget to add the first ever Middle Eastern or North African category to federal data collection efforts. This category is now scheduled to go into effect for upcoming 2030 federal census efforts – and that's for federal workers – and this is the first revision to the process since 1997. It's a critical step to be able to better understand and meet the needs of Arab American public servants.
Many of your deep ties to the Arab world have also helped us better serve communities in crisis overseas, helping USAID engage the diaspora communities to address urgent priorities in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, and playing a crucial role coordinating with our donor partners to respond to the devastation in Gaza. I know that this work, which is already challenging in its own right, and is already demanding so much of your time and energy, is not easy. And I would say it's especially difficult today.
It is not easy to feel motivated when you are overlooked or undermined because of your heritage or your religion or the color of your skin. It's not easy to show up to work every day when rising levels of harassment, threats, and violence against Arab American communities threaten the safety of you and your loved ones. It is not easy to feel like you matter when leaders are spewing inflammatory rhetoric that can dehumanize, devalue, or simply ignore people who share your identity. And Charles alluded to this, above all, it is not easy to feel like you are making a difference in the world when more than 30,000 Palestinians and more than 200 international and Palestinian aid workers have been killed in Gaza.
I realize that as long as violence in Gaza continues, those of you with family and friends there or connected to those who are there are going to live in perpetual fear for vulnerable people in harm's way. And I recognize how many of you are mourning, already, lives that have been taken. But I want you to know that we will continue to call on Israel to do much, much more to protect civilians. IDF military operations have killed far too many civilians. I and other senior leaders throughout the government will continue to advocate for a lasting ceasefire and a sustainable and equitable peace. And all of us, at USAID, are going to use every tool we have – public and private – to use diplomacy to press to see more border crossings open, to have them open longer, to allow hundreds more trucks a day into Gaza. And really make sure that the Israeli government is making more commitments and following through on the commitments made to President Biden in recent weeks to make major transformative improvements to humanitarian access.
Last week, I had the chance to testify to the Congress about the severity of the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza and had a chance to appeal for more than a billion dollars in new aid to address the desperate humanitarian needs. Right now, access and protection of civilians and aid workers are the gating issues – they are the limiting factors. But we need those resources as well. Because if we secure the kinds of changes that are needed, at some point, we are going to run out of money. And so just I know all of you are watching as we are pressing to see the national security supplemental go through on the hill. I just want you to know that no matter your role within the agency and no matter how it feels right now you are making a difference. You've made a difference in shaping my thinking and my advocacy within this administration. That in turn has made a difference with President Biden, and I know for many of you not a difference enough but nonetheless, you're all still at this. And you're making a difference for countless people in communities around the world. The agency needs you – needs your talent, your expertise, your dedication, as the challenges that we are facing continue to grow.
I am fiercely committed as Administrator to helping you do the critical work that you came here to do. And in that spirit, my entire leadership team and I will continue to emphasize that rhetoric that targets and dehumanizes Palestinian and Arab communities at home and abroad is unacceptable. As I've said, I deeply appreciate the candid lines of communication. We have been able to build with AAIFAA [Arab Americans in Foreign Affairs Agencies Employee Resource Group], and I welcome any feedback however critical I may have on what we are saying, what we're doing, and, and any of the efforts that we are making.
I want to thank you for continuing to show up every day, despite all of what I've been describing, and much more that you're going through instead of disengaging from what I can tell, you're leaning in, you're speaking out, you are demanding that we do better. And in doing so, again, you are in fact making a difference. So as we commemorate the Arab American activists that have helped make this country more just, more equal, and kinder, I want to recognize all of you as well. And I hope you will continue to dedicate your considerable talent and expertise to USAID’s work – we are so much stronger with you on our team.
Thank you so much, and I'm gonna stay for as long as I can, I'm very interested in hearing the next discussion. But I definitely wanted to thank you all for everything you do.