USA TODAY's Ken Dilanian is covering Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today in her first appearance before Congress as the nation's top diplomat.

He files these excerpts from her testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

-- Clinton said the Obama administration has "put forward a new diplomacy powered by partnership, pragmatism and principle." She said the administration is reaching out to Iran, but "we are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough, crippling sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are rejected."

-- At one point, Clinton had a sharp exchange with Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who blasted her for recently praising Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. Smith called Sanger "an unapologetic eugenicist and racist."

Clinton's response: "Congressman, I deeply respect your passionate concern and views. ... We obviously have a profound disagreement. When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world ... I've been in African countries where 12 and 13-year-old girls are bearing children ... denying access to services actually increased the rate of abortion. ..."

-- Regarding the possible prosecution of Bush administration officials who produced the legal justification for using enhanced interrogation techniques against detainees, Clinton restated President Obama's recent comments on the issue:

"No one will be prosecuted who acted within the four corners of the legal advice that was given ... however, those who formulated the legal opinions and gave those orders should be reviewed."

-- Speaking to Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., she said of former vice president Dick Cheney, who has criticized the Obama administration actions on the interrogation issue: "It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source."

-- Clinton called on the Pakistani diaspora to "speak out forcefully" against the Pakistani government's policy of "ceding more and more territory to the insurgents and the Taliban." She said they are not doing enough.

"I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness (enough)," she said, adding that "a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Ppakistani state" are "now within hours of Islamabad."