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![handle is hein.cbhear/fdsysavkk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AUT-ENTICATED
US. GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
GP
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2019
U.S. SENATE,
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,
Washington, DC.
[CLERK'S NOTE.-The subcommittee was unable to hold hearings
on departmental and nondepartmental witnesses. The statements
and letters of those submitting written testimony are as follows:]
DEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE OPEN WORLD LEADERSHIP CENTER
Chairman Daimes, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the subcommittee,
thank you for the opportunity to present written testimony on the Open World
Leadership Center, one of the most effective American exchange programs for coun-
tries in transition.
A Resource: The Open World program stands as a unique resource for Congress.
By linking rising leaders and key decision makers from Eurasia to Members of Con-
gress, our delegates can convey both facts and context that help inform Members.
For example, in 2017, Ukrainian parliamentarians, representing four parties and all
united as Euro-optimists, painted the current political atmosphere for the 16
Members they met. Topics discussed touched on the challenges of fighting corrup-
tion, consequences of the war in Eastern Ukraine, the need for United States leader-
ship to unify European and U.S. policy, and the information war with Russia. Mul-
tiply that series of conversations by the over 800 delegates that have met with
Members, staff and your constituents, you can see that the Open World program
provides unfiltered insights from rising leaders who are fully engaged in the polit-
ical, economic, educational and other facets of their country's development. Over 80
percent of our participants have met with Members or staff.
An Asset: While you might not at first think about the asset side of the balance
sheet, we have 27,000 alumni in strategically important countries. Ambassador
John Tefft, who recently finished his time as our Ambassador to the Russian Fed-
eration, noted that in his travels throughout this vast territory, it is Open World
alumni that are more open to meeting with and talking to him. In a country of man-
aged news, our nearly 20,000 alumni in all 83 regions of the Russian Federation
carry a far different and more positive view of the United States despite the Russian
media's efforts to demonize us. And they have friends and a wide reach through so-
cial networks. Finally, the Open World program directly benefits your constituents.
In 2017, the program placed delegations of young professionals in 47 States and 205
Congressional districts.
An Investment: As an investment, we are hard to beat. Our overhead runs consist-
ently at or below 7 percent; our cost per participant is less than half that of similar
Executive Branch programs; and our responsiveness to congressional initiatives is
quick and effective. For example, one Member believed we needed to focus more on
legislators. Our Board agreed and the next year, we set an objective of 20 percent
of participants coming from legislative bodies. We met that goal by bringing over
100 legislators and staff by the end of the year.
Why Legislative Branch: Our placement in the Legislative Branch allows us to en-
gage people of influence from more closed countries who would otherwise avoid an
Executive Branch program. A question that I hear every so often is, Why is the
Open World Leadership Center in the Legislative Branch? The most compelling an-
swer is simply that the placement in the Legislative Branch allows our program to
engage influential, democracy-minded Russians and others from more closed coun-
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