WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered opening remarks at the full Committee hearing, “Review of the Fiscal Year 2026 State Department Budget Request," with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the sole witness. In her opening remarks, Ranking Member Shaheen questioned the Trump Administration’s commitment to countering the People’s Republic of China. She warned that cuts to diplomacy, foreign assistance and global health have weakened our standing in the world and strengthened our adversaries.
You can watch Ranking Member Shaheen’s opening remarks here.
“Four months ago, you sat in that chair and you said that China is ‘…the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted,’” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “You called China ‘…an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor…’ I believe you were right, and yet, this Administration has eviscerated six decades of American foreign policy investments, undercutting our ability to compete with adversaries like China.”
Ranking Member Shaheen also raised concerns about the Administration’s trade war. She highlighted the costs to American families and manufacturers, as well as the erosion of U.S. influence among allies.
“Four months ago, Mr. Secretary, you said we were going to be safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “But whether it is President Trump’s deals with the Sinaloa Cartel to let Cartel members into the U.S or watching masked agents abduct a Tufts college student, I don’t feel safer. With Canadians canceling summer trips to New Hampshire and hurting our tourism industry, I don’t feel more prosperous. And after traveling to Ukraine and visiting the graves of people massacred on the orders of a Russian president this Administration has bent over backwards to please, I don’t feel more secure.”
The Ranking Member’s remarks, as delivered, are below.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Rubio, welcome back. Four months ago, you sat in that chair and you said that China is “…the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” You called China “…an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor…” I believe you were right, and yet, this Administration has eviscerated six decades of American foreign policy investments, undercutting our ability to compete with adversaries like China.
And Beijing is not just sitting back. As Elon Musk took a chainsaw to USAID and you proposed cutting 83% of foreign assistance programs, China has proposed increasing its diplomatic budget by 8.4%. As we move to reduce our diplomatic workforce and discuss closing U.S. embassies, China has more diplomatic missions than any other nation on Earth. And as the U.S. canceled PEPFAR, our most successful program fighting HIV/AIDS, China has been happy to replace our global health efforts across Africa and Asia. As this Administration distracts from serious national security issues with threats against Panama and Greenland, Xi Jinping has welcomed Brazil’s president and other Latin American leaders, pledging more than $9 billion dollars in investments. And as the U.S. has shuttered Voice of America and Radio Free Asia and crippled the State Department’s ability to counter foreign propaganda, China pours billions into propaganda, spreading lies and eroding trust in the U.S. As this Administration imposes tariffs on our closest allies, China is courting them in Europe, in Asia and in our own hemisphere.
Beijing is making the case that they are—and the term they are using is frightening—they are a more reliable partner than the United States. And it’s not just our allies. Xi has deepened ties with Putin, shielding the Russian economy from sanctions. Because of that—and because President Trump has given away our leverage—Putin doesn’t feel pressure to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. And for all the Administration’s talk, for all Elon Musk’s promises, according to reports, DOGE has not saved a dime. CBS News reports that “The federal government has spent $200 billion more in its first 100 days than it did last year.” According to the Partnership for Public Service, DOGE’s cuts might cost American taxpayers $135 billion dollars this year. This is in addition to the costs to American families and businesses stemming from the President’s trade war.
I recently met with a New Hampshire company that provides ball bearings to the aerospace industry. They do a lot of business with defense. Their lead time for the steel they use has gone from 20 weeks to two and half years because of the tariffs on steel. We can’t support our defense industry with a two and a half year lead time on steel. According to the Yale Budget Lab, consumers face an overall tariff rate of 17.8%, which is the highest since 1934. That’s $2,800 dollars per household each year. And these tariffs amount to the largest tax increase during peacetime in U.S. history.
Four months ago, Mr. Secretary, you said we were going to be safer, stronger, and more prosperous. But whether it is President Trump’s deals with the Sinaloa Cartel to let Cartel members into the U.S or watching masked agents abduct a Tufts college student, I don’t feel safer. With Canadians canceling summer trips to New Hampshire and hurting our tourism industry, I don’t feel more prosperous. And after traveling to Ukraine and visiting the graves of people massacred on the orders of a Russian president this Administration has bent over backwards to please, I don’t feel more secure.
To your credit Mr. Secretary, your trip and the statement from President Trump that he will be lifting sanctions on Syria was welcome news. And you’ve worked to restart some programs, and grant waivers to others. But contrary to what we’ve heard, lifesaving health and humanitarian aid is still not flowing in any meaningful way. My staff was just in Africa, we have the photos of the empty shelves and closed down clinics.
We were promised a golden age for America. But instead, our disease surveillance programs are down, our counterterror programs are in chaos, the ceasefire in Gaza has ended and fighting has begun again and we have unilaterally disarmed against some of our most dangerous adversaries.
You know, one of the things that I’ll never forget in the past four months is my trip to Ukraine where we stopped in Poland, which has been one of the most pro-American countries in the world. But because of the cuts and the stop-work orders, we met with one civil society leader who was working with Ukrainian refugees and he said to me, to the CODEL, “We always looked up to Americans. You were a trusted ally. My trust in America is broken.” They were told to remove all American flags with the halt on assistance—foreign assistance. Removing all the American flags is a sad commentary on the foreign assistance legacy for this Administration. American flags coming down around the world. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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