President Trump’s provisional plan to cut State Department funding by up to 37 percent won’t come to pass, a department spokesman suggested.
“I would be cautious to say that that preliminary number that’s floating out there is where we’re going to end up,” acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in the first on-camera department press briefing of the Trump administration.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is open to cutting programs, part of a bureaucratic reform that he warned would take place during his first address to State Department staff. As Toner acknowledged those reforms, he also made a muted case against cutting the department’s budget that much.
“He’s looking like any new leader of an organization as big as the State Department — not that big in the world of federal agencies, but it’s a sizable organization — where efficiencies can be found, where there might be duplication of efforts,” Toner said. “I mean, let’s face it, the State Department operates on a fairly modest budget in the grand scheme of things. So, I think as an effective leader and manager of the State Department, of U.S. foreign policy, he’s looking for where efficiencies can be found and where we can, if needed, change or eliminate positions, but also focus on other priorities.”
The outline of Trump’s initial budget calls for a steep cut to State Department funding, in order to pay for an increase in military spending without increasing the budget deficit. That proposal has drawn bipartisan congressional criticism, however, suggesting that lawmakers might provide more funding than Trump seeks.
“I am very concerned by reports of deep cuts that could damage efforts to combat terrorism, save lives, and create opportunities for American workers,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said last week. “The committee will thoroughly review the administration’s foreign affairs budget request when it’s made available to Congress.”
Toner added that Tillerson will not attempt to “limit the function or the efficacy, efficiency, of this State Department” as he reviews the various agencies and programs. “We’ve seen the letters, we’ve seen the public statements by many former leaders — military and former secretaries of state — with regard to the value of foreign assistance and I think we recognize the value of foreign assistance,” he added.
