Hillary Clinton argued Friday that proposed cuts by the Trump administration to the State Department would be a “grave mistake” and would “undermine” U.S. security.
“We are seeing signals of a shift that should alarm us all,” the former secretary of state said Friday during a speech at Georgetown University. “This administration’s proposed cuts to international health, development, and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake for our country.”
“Some of you may have seen the recent letter from more than 120 retired generals and admirals to Congress and the administration, urging the Congress and the White house not to retreat from these programs which represent our values,” Clinton said. “These distinguished women and men who have served in uniform recognized that turning our back on diplomacy won’t make our country safer. It will undermine our security and our standing in the world.”
Despite Clinton’s criticisms, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson believes the cuts are necessary and that the department’s funding levels were unsustainable.
“The level of spending that the State Department has been undertaking in the past — and particularly in this past year — is simply not sustainable,” Tillerson said at a news conference in Tokyo during his tour of Asia two weeks ago.
Trump’s proposed budget featured severe cuts to various departments, including a 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, and a 17.9 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services. The plan also proposes reapportioning much of the funding to the building of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
