‘This Is Just Plain Wrong’: Cherfilus-McCormick Slams DOGE Over ‘Reckless’ Cuts To State Department

2 days ago

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing On The State Department Administrative Services on Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) berated Trump and DOGE's over cuts at the state department.

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Transcript

00:00And I now recognize the Ranking Member, Sheila Scherfelis McCormick, for her opening remarks.

00:06Thank you, Chairman Lawler.

00:08I want to start by taking a moment to thank all of the dedicated State Department Foreign

00:12Service, Civil Service contractors, and the local staff at home and abroad for your hard

00:17work and service to our country and the American people.

00:21The goal of the State Department are to advance our strategic interests abroad by countering

00:26adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran.

00:29Help Americans who are overseas, and finally, to protect and secure our nation.

00:34When things go wrong abroad, when an American traveler gets in trouble, when someone needs

00:39a new passport, when top policy makers need information from the ground, you are there.

00:44You are our eyes and our ears and advocates abroad.

00:48Thank you for your hard work.

00:49I want to set the scene for what we are discussing today, streamlining and right-sizing the Department.

00:55And why is it so important?

00:57The State Department is not a business.

01:00We cannot afford to move fast and break things.

01:02This is not about building a social media app.

01:06The stakes are much higher.

01:08This is about protecting Americans' lives, keeping Americans who live and travel abroad,

01:13making sure that when your child decides to study abroad in Italy or Jordan or Vietnam,

01:18there is someone who will help them, someone they can call on.

01:22It's about ensuring our embassies and our consulates are safe through the hard work

01:27of our diplomatic security staff.

01:29It's about ensuring the next generation of foreign services officers are taught to be

01:34experts in their field, not yes-men.

01:37It's about competing against our adversaries and coordinating with our allies, not the

01:42other way around.

01:43And, yes, it's about ensuring the State Department has the management tools, administrative capacities,

01:49and people it needs to get the job done.

01:52My Republican colleagues would like you to believe that the Trump administration is the

01:57first to want to streamline or right-size the State Department, and that it could be

02:03done, that it can't be done without DOJ.

02:06This just is plain wrong, as is the hallmark approach of DOJ, which they use to break things

02:12first and ask questions later.

02:14Former Secretary of State Blinken began his tenure by laying out a modernization plan

02:19informed by actual data and input from department employees on how to bring the department into

02:25the 21st century and ensure it remains the world's premier diplomatic workforce.

02:31Similarly, my Republican colleagues might paint the work of DOJ to slash agencies like

02:37the state and its workforce as a brave endeavor that Democrats have been unwilling to carry

02:43out.

02:44However, those actions have been reckless and have hurt many innocent Americans.

02:49Congressional Democrats have repeatedly shown that we're ready and willing to engage in

02:53good faith, comprehensive, bipartisan State Department reform.

02:58Bipartisan state authorization efforts over the last few Congresses have yielded some

03:03real victories for the department, its workforce, and its ability to act in the best interest

03:09of the American people.

03:11We remain ready to build on those successes and continue our good faith, bipartisan efforts

03:16on State Department and modernization efforts to ensure our diplomats and missions abroad

03:22are well poised to meet today's threats.

03:25I want to join the chairman in welcoming our panel today.

03:28Thank you for your service and your dedication to this country, and I look forward to our

03:32discussion.

03:33But, Mr. Chairman, I respectfully ask why this isn't a conversation that we're having

03:37with the administration itself.

03:39If Secretary Rubio and the administration are so proud of their work, where are they

03:43and why are they not here for questioning?

03:45If we are serious about working with the administration on their efforts to modernize the State Department,

03:50including proposals to streamline and right-size it, then we have to hear from them.

03:55I stand ready to have the conversation whenever they are ready.

03:59Let me be clear.

04:00I'm not opposed to finding efficiencies and increasing effectiveness where we can, but

04:06we cannot do it recklessly, in a way that cedes ground to our adversaries or that leaves

04:12American citizens high and dry.

04:15U.S. national security, American lives are on the line.

04:19We need to do this the right way and not the doge way.

04:23Nevertheless, I'm grateful to our witnesses for being here to have this conversation and

04:28in the administration's absence, and I look forward to the insight.

04:32I yield back.

‘This Is Just Plain Wrong’: Cherfilus-McCormick Slams DOGE Over ‘Reckless’ Cuts To State Department

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