Skip to player
Skip to main content
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Bookmark
Share
More
Add to Playlist
Report
Sara Jacobs Slams GOP Push To Reorganize The State Department: It Is ‘Marred By Chaos’
Forbes Breaking News
Follow
8 months ago
During Wednesday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) questioned State Department officials about the goals of State Department reorganization.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you to our witnesses for being here. I'm
00:04
actually really glad we're convening this hearing today. I'll be honest when
00:07
I worked at the State Department I was incredibly frustrated with the longtime
00:12
career diplomats who were very resistant to change and I think that that
00:16
mentality has contributed to the department's ineffectiveness over the
00:20
years. I think reform is absolutely needed in the State Department. In fact I
00:24
passed bipartisan legislation to help address risk aversion and the bunker
00:28
mentality at our embassies and other reforms to how we do security
00:32
assistance, how we do foreign assistance. So that's why I am so disappointed that
00:37
this reorganization effort has become a partisan exercise marred by chaos and
00:42
without regard to the law. Between the leaked proposal we've seen to slash the
00:46
department's budget in half, the commitments to cut staff by 15% despite
00:52
the department now having to take on what is left of USAID programming, and reports
00:57
that the department will significantly downsize its diplomatic presence abroad.
01:01
Taken together I actually don't think these reforms will lead to a more
01:06
effective State Department which is what we really want. The reality is we do need
01:11
to think more strategically about what our national security priorities and
01:15
interests are in a multi-polar world, but Chairman Mast I just fundamentally
01:21
disagree with you that human rights and our values aren't part of that because I
01:24
think our power is derived from our ability to build international
01:28
coalitions and to do that we need to address our values and build our
01:33
coalitions around that. So first I want to focus on an area of ongoing reform that I
01:39
think we can learn from. Chairman Emeritus McCall and I, my good friend,
01:44
introduced our reauthorization for the Global Fragility Act. This focuses on
01:48
important reforms for how we get to align policy and programs, more robust monitoring and
01:53
evaluation, but Secretary Rubio's reorganization proposal which shut down
01:58
the Conflict and Stabilization Operations Bureau, which I actually worked at, which is
02:02
leading the implementation. And look we can have a separate debate on the best way
02:06
to house the kind of conflict expertise in the department. We led a GAO review of CSO
02:11
under the Biden administration, but Secretary Zea, as Undersecretary of J, you
02:17
oversaw the work of CSO and the Global Fragility Act. Can you discuss the
02:21
importance of maintaining the Global Fragility Act team led by an assistant
02:25
secretary as required by law to actually implement GFA and meet its statutory
02:29
obligations? Thank you, Representative Jacobs, and thanks to you and
02:34
Representative McCall for your bipartisan leadership in the Global Fragility Act.
02:38
This is exactly the kind of state modernization that I think we should
02:42
rally bipartisan support for, and I saw this firsthand in my role as Undersecretary
02:47
Committee, visiting GFA partner countries, Mozambique, Côte d'Ivoire, as well as Haiti.
02:55
And what I saw on the ground was a shift away from open-ended assistance
03:01
commitments, you know, where implementation is defined as spending money and really
03:06
focusing on measuring results, evidence-based approaches, and course
03:12
corrections. And it is very sad to me that this effort is now being potentially
03:19
extinguished just two years in when it's starting to bear fruit. It's about
03:24
integrating State Department efforts with our colleagues at DOD, with USAID, but
03:30
also with international partners who have followed our lead, particularly in
03:35
coastal West Africa, where we have four embassies working together in an
03:39
integrated way. I have never seen, but you've got the international financial
03:43
institutions, the EU, and the Brits coming in behind to focus on the same areas.
03:49
And I do want to make a point about human rights and security and hard security.
03:54
Representative Wilson mentioned his visit to Syria. I was a human rights officer in
03:59
Syria under Hafez al-Assad. At this point, our support for pluralism, for inclusion of women
04:08
in Syria's transitional government and process, that is absolutely a guarantor of security.
04:15
And Syria is a diverse country of many faiths. We cannot allow it to fall into a majoritarian
04:22
system that oppresses so many of Syria's people after the immense suffering they've had. That's also
04:29
why accountability is so important. So we can finally achieve accountability for the Assad regime's
04:37
horrific crimes. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And I think one of the really innovative
04:43
reforms in the Global Fragility Act is being able to assess the effectiveness of U.S. policy
04:49
in a single country across all of our activities done by all different agencies. And I know that
04:53
sounds simple, but actually GFA is the only capability we've ever had to assess whether or not
04:59
our policy, whole of government in a country, is actually achieving its goals. So I do hope that
05:03
Secretary Rubio will maintain that function. And Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you,
05:08
Representative Jacobs. We now recognize Representative Smith from New Jersey. Thank you.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment
Recommended
5:01
|
Up next
Sara Jacobs Grills Top State Department Official On Ensuring 'Adequate Staffing' Amid Mass Layoffs
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
3:18
Sara Jacobs Calls For Update To Insurrection Act To 'Prevent An Abuse Of Power' From Trump Administration
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
5:56
Madeleine Dean Grills State Department Official On Firing At The State Department
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
5:10
Pramila Jayapal Skewers Top Trump Official Over Staffing Cuts At The State Department
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
5:25
'Would You Consider Any Of Those Programs Woke?': Sara Jacobs Asks Witness About Cancelled USAID Grants
Forbes Breaking News
7 months ago
13:05
Sara Jacobs Slams Pete Hegseth For Being 'Reckless With Sensitive Information'
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
4:48
Sara Jacobs Asks DoD Official Point Blank: ‘Was The European Union Formed To Hurt America?’
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
5:18
Sara Jacobs Asks Official How USAID Gutting 'Directly Hands China Greater Leverage' In Indo-Pacific
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
16:19
'More Than The Entire Marine Corps!': Sara Jacobs & John Garamendi Blast GOP Over DHS Budget
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
4:59
Sara Jacobs Asks SOF Official How To ‘Yield More Sustainable Results’ In Future Missions
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
5:18
Sara Jacobs Presses Marco Rubio About Trump Family Business In The United Arab Emarites
Forbes Breaking News
7 months ago
3:39:12
House Foreign Affairs Committee Holds Hearing On State Department Authorization As Trump Pushes Reorganization
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
5:33
'You Just Fired Them': Pramila Jayapal Confronts State Department Official On Mass Layoffs
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
4:58
Jim Baird Questions State Department Official On Resource Protection For Vulnerable Commodities
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
10:23
‘It’s Cheaper Because They Cut Corners’: Sara Jacobs Pokes Holes In Pat Fallon’s CBP Hiring Plans
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
5:22
James Moylan Touts State Department Reauthorization Efforts, Praises Rubio’s ‘Excellent Leadership’
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
2:15
Mike Lawler Presses Top State Department Official On 'Department-Wide' Counter Intelligence
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
4:47
Sheri Biggs Asks Witness About State Department’s Collaboration With NGOs In International Space Policy
Forbes Breaking News
8 months ago
5:37
'Was That Anticipated?': Cherfilus-McCormick Grills State Dept. Official On Rehiring Laid-Off Staff
Forbes Breaking News
4 months ago
5:43
Young Kim Presses State Official On Elimination Of Department's Energy Bureau Amid Growing Demand For AI
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
6:34
Meeks Torches State Official: 'You Have Created The Largest Brain Drain' In Dept.'s Modern History
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
5:19
'That Seems To Be Pretty Undignified': Dina Titus Rips Trump Administration Over State Department Staffing Cuts
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
5:18
'I'm Asking What You Believe': Jacky Rosen Grills State Department Official On Firings
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
6:14
Top Trump Official Shreds Biden's 'Structurally Flawed' State Department
Forbes Breaking News
5 months ago
0:51
Amazon Names AI Leader
Benzinga
18 hours ago
Be the first to comment