The
Senate
Upholds
Commitment
and
Continues
VA
Overhaul
Today,
the
Senate
voted
to
increase
accountability
measures
at
the
Department
of
Veterans
Affairs.
As
part
of
the
process
of
improving
care
for
our
veterans,
Congress
has
given
the
department
the
power
to
remove
officials
whose
work
is
not
respectful
of
the
mission
to
serve
those
who
sacrificed
so
much
to
defend
our
freedoms.
We
cannot
allow
scandals
like
recent
ones
at
the
Indianapolis
and
Peru
VA
medical
centers
to
continue.
To
read
more
about
the
new
measures, click
here.
Helping
to
Empower
those
with
Disabilities
I
visited
Erskine
Green
Training
Institute
(EGTI)
to
learn
more
about
their
work
to
empower
those
with
disabilities.
EGTI’s
unique
program
trains
people
with
academic,
social,
or
communication
challenges to
work
in
the
healthcare
and
hospitality
fields. Their
aim
is
to
cut
the
employment
rate
which,
for
people
with
disabilities,
can
go
as
high
as
70%.
Read
about
my
visit
in The
Star
Press,
and
learn
more
about EGTI
here.
5
Hoosier
Students
Awarded
Scholarships
to
Study
National
Security
Issues
It
was
a
privilege
to
visit with
five
Hoosier
students
who
were
granted
prestigious
academic
scholarships
to
study
national
security
issues
abroad during
their
trip
to
Washington
D.C.
this
week. They
are
an
exceptional
group
of
young
men
and
women
with
bright
futures
ahead
of
them. The highly
competitive program
is
run
through
the
Department
of
Defense. Read
more
about
it
at
www.nsep.gov.
Holding
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council
Accountable
&
Reforming
it
for
Future
Success
Ahead
of
UN
Ambassador
Nikki
Haley’s
speech
to
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council,
I
wrote
an
op-ed
and
recorded
a
podcast
on
reforms
needed
at
the
council
in
order
to
ensure
the
body
is
doing
what
it
can
to
protect
universal
human
rights.
Read
the
op-ed
and
listen
to
the
podcast
by
clicking
here,
or
read
the
full
op-ed
below.
Todd
Young:
Nikki
Haley
is
about
to
hold
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council
accountable
Originally
published
in
the
Washington
Examiner
Nikki
Haley,
the
U.S.
Ambassador
to
the
United
Nations,
will
address
the
United
Nations
Human
Rights
Council
(UNHRC)
in
Geneva
this
week.
Given
the
proliferation
of
human
rights
violations
around
the
world
and
the
failures
of
the
UN
Human
Rights
Council,
I
applaud
Ambassador
Haley’s
eagerness
to
hold
the
council
accountable.
In
advance
of
her
trip,
perhaps
it
is
helpful
to
step
back
and
examine
why
human
rights
should
play
a
prominent
role
in
U.S.
foreign
policy.
The
Declaration
of
Independence
declared
that
“We
hold
these
truths
to
be
self-evident,
that
all
men
are
created
equal,
that
they
are
endowed
by
their
Creator
with
certain
unalienable
Rights,
that
among
these
are
Life,
Liberty
and
the
pursuit
of
Happiness.”
While
we
know
that
our
nation
has
spent
much
of
our
history
trying
to
narrow
the
gap
between
these
self-evident
truths
and
our
daily
reality,
it
is
noteworthy
that
our
founders
used
the
phrase
“all
men”.
Today,
we
would
say
all
men
and
women,
but
the
point
is
that
our
founders
did
not
suggest
these
unalienable
rights
were
limited
to
just
Americans.
If
we
accept
the
fact
that
these
rights
are
not
reserved
for
Americans
alone
but
are
instead
universal,
then
we
have
an
obligation
to
ensure
these
universal
human
rights
inform
not
only
our
domestic
policy—but
our
foreign
policy
as
well.
Yet,
promoting
and
protecting
human
rights
internationally
is
not
just
a
matter
of
principle
or
morality,
doing
so
also
serves
America’s
national
security
interests.
As
Ambassador
Haley
emphasized
in
her
U.N.
Security
Council
remarks
on
April
18th,
“the
protection
of
human
rights
is
often
deeply
intertwined
with
peace
and
security.”
As
she
observed,
human
rights
violations
can
often
serve
as
“the
trigger
for
conflict.”
As
an
example,
Ambassador
Haley
cited
the
fact
that
the
horrible
Syrian
conflict
that
has
generated
so
many
threats
to
American
national
security—not
to
mention
heart-wrenching
human
suffering—started
when
the
Assad
regime
failed
to
respect
the
universal
human
rights
of
a
group
of
young
boys
opposed
to
the
regime.
So,
both
our
principles
and
our
interests,
our
values
and
our
security,
are
advanced
when
the
promotion
of
universal
human
rights
figures
prominently—not
peripherally—in
U.S.
foreign
policy.
It
is
both
wrong
and
short-sighted
to
believe
that
we
can
better
protect
our
national
security
interests
by
ignoring
or
sidelining
human
rights.
Perhaps
that
is
why
the
United
Nations
Charter,
that
our
country
played
a
pivotal
role
in
establishing,
states
clearly
in
Article
One
that
one
of
the
four
purposes
of
the
United
Nations
is
to
promote
and
encourage
“respect
for
human
rights
and
for
fundamental
freedoms
for
all
without
distinction
as
to
race,
sex,
language,
or
religion.”
American
national
security
interests
are
best
served
when
the
United
Nations
effectively
fulfills
this
core
purpose.
For
that
reason,
we
want
the
UNHRC
to
effectively
fulfill
its
responsibility
of
“promoting
universal
respect
for
the
protection
of
all
human
rights
and
fundamental
freedoms
for
all.”
That’s
why,
as
Chair
of
the
Senate
Foreign
Relations
Subcommittee
that
oversees
the
U.N.,
I
convened
a
hearing
on
May
25
assessing
the
UNHRC.
As
the
testimony
of
the
witnesses
clearly
underscored,
the
UNHRC
has
too
often
failed
to
promote
its
important
mission.
The
witnesses
echoed
the
sentiments
of
Deputy
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
International
Organization
Affairs
Erin
Barclay
who
said
in
Geneva
in
March,
“Regrettably,
too
many
of
the
actions
of
this
Council
do
not
support
those
universal
principles.
Indeed,
they
contradict
them.”
Unfortunately,
this
should
not
come
as
a
surprise.
Consider
the
fact
that
some
of
the
world’s
worst
human
rights
abusers
are
on
the
Council.
China
and
Cuba
are
members,
for
example,
yet
according
to
Freedom
House,
they
have
the
worst
or
second
to
worst
rankings
possible
for
political
rights
and
civil
liberties.
Additionally,
the
Council
has
exhibited
a
systematic,
reflexive,
and
shameful
bias
against
Israel—our
closest
and
most
reliable
ally
in
the
Middle
East.
Israel
is
the
only
country
in
the
world
that
is
subjected
to
a
permanent
agenda
item
at
the
UNHRC.
When
countries
with
the
worst
possible
human
rights
records
sit
on
the
Council,
seek
to
deflect
attention
from
their
egregious
human
rights
abuses,
and
attempt
to
pass
judgement
on
Israel—a
country
with
a
vibrant
liberal
democracy—the
credibility
of
the
Council
is
further
undermined
and
the
United
States
must
not
be
silent.
America
is
at
its
best
when
it
models
and
promotes
respect
for
universal
human
rights.
We
should
expect
the
same
from
the
UNHRC
and
its
members.
I
look
forward
to
Ambassador
Haley
taking
this
message
to
Geneva
this
week.
.....
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