President Trump’s proposed cuts to the State Department budget “will hurt efforts to combat terrorism,” according to the leading House Republican on foreign affairs.
“I am very concerned that deep cuts to our diplomacy will hurt efforts to combat terrorism, distribute critical humanitarian aid, and promote opportunities for American workers,” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said Thursday. “Especially when the U.S. is fighting ISIS and millions are at risk of starvation around the world.”
Trump’s budget request, if enacted, would cut funding for international diplomacy by 31 percent. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended those cuts as a drawdown of “historically high” spending and a spur to efficiency reforms, but Royce’s pointed criticism ensures bipartisan opposition from congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.
“This blueprint prioritizes funding for several key programs, including embassy security and military assistance to Israel, as it should,” Royce said. “But it is unclear how the administration would apply cuts elsewhere. Does this mean vital programs to counter drug and human trafficking will face even steeper cuts? What about military assistance to other important allies, including Jordan?”
Financial support for allied militaries wasn’t spelled out because it hasn’t been decided, the State Department acknowledged.
“With respect to other assistance levels, foreign military assistance levels, those are still being evaluated and decisions are going to be made going forward,” acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Thursday. “Obviously bearing in mind … our treaty obligations going forward, but we’ll have more details, obviously, when the final budget rolls out in May.”
Royce’s Democratic counterpart on the committee also condemned the proposed cuts and urged Republicans to defy Trump’s request.
“Congress, as we all say many times, is a co-equal branch of government, and, according to the Constitution, we appropriate funds or you appropriate funds,” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., told a House Appropriations subcommittee panel. “We don’t just have to roll over because any White House says so. This year, we’re going to have to put that idea to the test.”
