QUESTION: Can I ask you a quick one on Haiti? Senator Leahy, who chairs, as you know, the Senate Appropriations foreign ops subcommittee, put out a statement this morning in which he calls for the United States to suspend direct aid to the central government of Haiti and visas for top officials and their immediate family members, so as to send a message that the United States squarely supports the Haitian people’s rights to choose their leaders freely and fairly. Do you have – this is obviously a key player in Congress and on your budget. Do you have any sympathy for his call for suspending aid to the central government, and for not doing visas for members of the government and their families?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, let’s focus on where we are now. We have – we’re in the middle of an electoral process. This electoral process is critical to the future of Haiti. We have already publicly stated our significant concerns about the results that have been announced. There is a process underway. I think today is the last day to file formal complaints to challenge the results that have been announced.

And we are committed to support this review. It needs to be credible. The results that — when these results are finalized, leading to a run-off election next month, the people of Haiti have to believe that these are the candidates that they have chosen, they haven’t been chosen by the government behind closed doors.

This is a critical moment for Haiti . We are prepared to support Haiti. We are also sending a very clear message to the existing government that that this election has to be done properly, in accord with the wishes of the Haitian people. We will judge our future relationship by the actions that Haiti undertakes, but — and we are committed to supporting this process. But let’s wait until we see what happens first, and then we will judge the implications.

QUESTION: So you have no sympathy for Senator Leahy’s –

MR. CROWLEY: Well, the Senator is outlining some actions that are, of course, within our purview. But let’s get to the end of the electoral process, find out what actually happens, and then we will evaluate what the nature of our future support for Haiti should be.

QUESTION: Last one for me on this. You don’t think, therefore, the exercise of this kind of pressure might be beneficial toward getting to a more credible outcome?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, again, there is an existing process ongoing within Haiti. The election is not done yet. I think it’s premature for the United States to take this kind of action until we are convinced that the existing process cannot work. I think we are committed to try to help to make this process work. There is a lot at stake here, but we want to see the process unfold, and we believe that it can lead to a credible election result.