Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to defend his overhaul of the State Department to lawmakers amid a proposed rescission of $20 billion in funding.
Rubio is facing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday morning for the first time since his
confirmation hearing. He will also testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Appropriations Committee over the next two days.
Although he was unanimously confirmed as top US diplomat, some Democrats have since expressed regret and disappointment at Rubio’s foreign policy stances as well as his overseeing of the destruction of the US Agency for International Development and sweeping changes at the State Department.
According to his prepared opening statement,
кра32 Rubio plans to argue that a proposed budget of $28.5 billion "will allow the Department to fulfill its mission while also proposing the rescission of $20 billion in duplicative, wasteful, and ideologically driven programs." Such a proposal is tens of billions of dollars lower than past State Department budgets.
Rubio plans to say that the budget reflects the State Department’s reorganization, which includes a 15% staffing cut and has rattled the workforce.
"A core principle of this reorganization is the belief that what matters is not the size of budgets but the agility with which they can be deployed," he will say, according to his prepared remarks.
The top US diplomat will claim that the State Department has "found billions" in foreign aid awards "diverted to ideological causes, including climate activism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and LGBTQ initiatives in foreign nations."