Senator Feingold comments on Africa policy

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I want to thank CSIS for giving me this opportunity to talk about U.S.-Africa policy today, and to thank all of the members of the Africa Policy Advisory Panel and the staff who spent long hours working on the reports that were submitted to the Secretary of State and are before you today. It was a pleasure for me to work with such accomplished experts, and I believe that the reports produced by the Panel are full of sound analysis and important recommendations.

But as good as this work is, these reports simply are not enough. To translate sound thinking into policy that will yield real results, we need a sea change, across the partisan divide and throughout government, that brings a new seriousness and commitment to our engagement in Africa. We need to be operating in a context in which we all acknowledge that it is inexcusable for a presidential candidate to say, as one did four years ago, that Africa "doesn't fit into our national strategic interests, as far as I can see them."

We need consensus that our policy should involve more than reacting to crises and more than batting down emerging threats. We need sustained, not sporadic, engagement if we are to foster the real partnerships that we will need in the years ahead.

Senator Feingold Remarks for Africa Policy Advisory Panel Report Roll-Out....