Chairman Donald Payne, who originally convinced Congress to declare the situation in Darfur a “genocide,” said that “for some, our policy is too focused on punitive measures. I beg to differ.” He complained that Gration has repeatedly put off appearing before the subcommittee and took the unusual step of inviting Senator Sam Brownback to bounce Gration off the walls. Brownback, who doesn’t seem keen on any type of negotiation with Sudan’s government at all, spent much of his time forcing Gration to admit that he’s been engaging with the perpetrator of an ongoing genocide. (During the Obama administration’s policy review, Gration opposed calling the situation in Darfur an “ongoing genocide,” but he lost that battle. The official U.S. policy now is that there is a genocide ongoing-even though that’s not literally true anymore-and Gration is stuck mouthing a formula he doesn’t buy.)