WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered opening remarks at a full committee hearing, “Reforming the State Department to Compete in the 21st Century.” Michael Rigas, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, appeared as a witness in the hearing. In a sharp rebuke of the State Department’s chaotic and jumbled firing of career experts and diplomats, her opening remarks described how these reductions severely undermine U.S. foreign policy and national security. In addition, Shaheen highlighted the enormous waste and cruelty resulting from the Administration’s decision to destroy emergency food aid—instead of distributing it to starving children as taxpayers intended.
You can watch her opening remarks here.
Ranking Member Shaheen pressed Mr. Rigas on the State Department’s decision to destroy food aid and conduct sweeping personnel cuts.
You can watch her question line here.
“Last Friday, the United States cut more than one thousand highly specialized diplomatic staff,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “That action is a gift to our adversaries like China and Russia. The reductions put America at a disadvantage on everything from negotiating trade deals and securing critical minerals to countering Chinese Communist Party propaganda and protecting U.S. national security. And while we’re scaling back and retreating, Beijing is increasing its diplomatic budget this year.”
Ranking Member Shaheen also expressed concerns about the Trump Administration ignoring congressional concerns and proceeding with cuts that have left vital posts unfilled, including roles critical to U.S. efforts in Ukraine, Georgia, Colombia and Syria.
“I support reform and modernization—I think most of the members of this Committee do—and if this Administration and Secretary Rubio had come to Congress on reform, it would have found a partner, but the Department has moved forward despite congressional holds, it’s ignored the laws that have been set out by this body and, as a result, the process has been chaotic and haphazard,” she continued. “Let me just give you a few examples, which you may or may not have heard about. Those staff people who were supporting Secretary Rubio’s trip to Asia were cut while the Secretary was en route home from Malaysia. Foreign service officers in training for their next mission-critical posts abroad were fired with no warning after we had paid to train them. Civil service employees working on top administration priorities were fired based on old assignments, not based on what they were doing currently. Others received termination notices by mistake. The confusion has left vital positions vacant. We need public affairs officers in Ukraine to combat Russian disinformation. We need political affairs officers in Georgia where we are seeing month after month of widespread repression. We need consular affairs officers in Colombia to process visas and [replace] passports and address the fentanyl traffic that’s coming into the United States. We need chemical weapons experts in Syria to prevent terrorists from getting those materials. And yet, these are among the people who were fired on Friday.”
Ranking Member Shaheen also expressed concern about reports that the Administration is destroying food aid and cited it as an example of how the Administration’s foreign assistance policies conflict with American values.
“I agree that people want to deal with United States because of our values, and that we have been a very generous country and that has made a difference for so many people around the world,” she continued. “That’s why I find it so distressing when there are reports we are destroying 500 metric tons of food that could feed 1.5 million children a week, and we’re destroying it for no other reason than the Administration put a hold on getting that foreign assistance out to people and so now it is spoiled. I don’t think that’s consistent with the values of the United States or consistent with American taxpayers and how they want to see their money spent.”
The Ranking Member’s opening remarks, as delivered, are below.
Deputy Secretary Rigas, thank you for testifying before our committee today. Last Friday, the United States cut more than one thousand highly specialized diplomatic staff. That action is a gift to our adversaries like China and Russia.
China already operates one of the world’s largest diplomatic networks with 278 missions, rivaling the United States. And, you know, these aren’t just in countries in the Indo Pacific and Africa, when we were in France earlier this summer for the Paris Air Show, what we were told is that China had an expanding presence at the Air Show—more than they had ever seen—and that they had opened three new consulates in France and had over 20 Confucius Centers. So, we should assume that this is happening not just in parts of the world where our allies and partners aren’t operating, but it’s happening all over.
The reductions put America at a disadvantage on everything from negotiating trade deals and securing critical minerals to countering Chinese Communist Party propaganda and protecting U.S. national security. And while we’re scaling back and retreating, Beijing is increasing its diplomatic budget this year.
And, sadly, it’s not just China. Russia’s drafting plans modeled on the United States Agency for International Development to expand Moscow’s global influence. So, with the stakes so high, eliminating key diplomatic bureaus—like the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor—sends the wrong message to our allies in the Global South, the Indo-Pacific and on NATO’s eastern flank. It undermines long-term trust in the United States as a reliable ally. In fact, we know that China’s already saying to many of the countries where we have had programs that they can’t trust the United States—that we are not a reliable ally.
You wrote—or the Department wrote—that this restructuring would allow the Department to “…shape a diplomatic vision that delivers for our nation long into the future.” But cutting staff by 15 percent, slashing the diplomatic budget by more than 80% undermines that vision and it could set us back a generation. I support reform and modernization—I think most of the members of this Committee do—and if this Administration and Secretary Rubio had come to Congress on reform, it would have found a partner, but the Department has moved forward despite congressional holds, it’s ignored the laws that have been set out by this body and, as a result, the process has been chaotic and haphazard. Let me just give you a few examples, which you may or may not have heard about. Those staff people who were supporting Secretary Rubio’s trip to Asia were cut while the Secretary was en route home from Malaysia. Foreign service officers in training for their next mission-critical posts abroad were fired with no warning after we had paid to train them. Civil service employees working on top administration priorities were fired based on old assignments, not based on what they were doing currently. Others received termination notices by mistake. The confusion has left vital positions vacant. We need public affairs officers in Ukraine to combat Russian disinformation. We need political affairs officers in Georgia where we are seeing month after month of widespread repression. We need consular affairs officers in Colombia to process visas and [replace] passports and address the fentanyl traffic that’s coming into the United States. We need chemical weapons experts in Syria to prevent terrorists from getting those materials. And yet, these are among the people who were fired on Friday.
Earlier this month I—along with my Democratic colleagues on this committee—introduced the “Protecting America’s Diplomatic Workforce Act.” This is legislation to ensure that before there are large-scale staff terminations, the Department justifies them and assesses the impact on national security because leaving these roles vacant is not streamlining a bloated bureaucracy—as some have claimed. It weakens our alliances, it increases the risk of conflict, it puts Americans in danger.
Deputy Secretary Rigas, while many of these changes were initiated under DOGE, the responsibility for implementation now rests with you. And this Committee expects answers to the questions that we have this morning. Given that these decisions were not based on performance or evaluations or merit, I hope you’ll be able to explain how determinations were made about which staff and bureaus to eliminate and how these efforts make America safer, stronger and more prosperous. Because, so far, we haven’t seen any evidence of that.
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