“People look to [the U.S.] to protect our allies; stand by our principles; serve as an honest broker in making peace; to fight hunger, poverty, and disease; to stand up to bullies and tyrants everywhere,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday in testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and she added that to do so “takes more than just resolve. It takes resources,” ABS-CBNnews.com reports (Jaleco, 2/29).

Clinton spoke “in defense of President Obama’s proposal for national security and foreign policy priorities in the fiscal year (FY) 2013 international affairs budget, including U.S. investments in global health,” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog writes. Clinton mentioned increasing efficiencies and country ownership through the Global Health Initiative (GHI) during her opening remarks, the blog notes (Mazzotta, 2/28). “Through the Global Health Initiative, we are consolidating programs, increasing partners’ capacities, and shifting responsibilities to help target our resources where they are most needed and [have the] highest impact, including in areas like maternal and child health,” she said, according to a transcript (2/28). Clinton on Tuesday also spoke before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, according to the State Department’s website, which provides a transcript of her testimony (2/28). Video footage of this hearing is available on the committee’s website (2/28).

Additional information on the global health components of the White House FY13 budget request is available online from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Policy Tracker.