'More Aligned With Marx Than Madison': Scott Perry Asks Trump Official About State Dept. DEI Program

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During a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in July, Rep. Scott Perry (R-TX) asked Undersecretary of State Allison Hooker about loyalty tests for State Department staffers and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at the Department.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman yields back. Representative Perry is recognized.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Hooker, over here. Sorry about that.

00:09The State Department's 75,000 employees, including 13,000 Foreign Service officers and 11,000 Civil Service staff,

00:17cost taxpayers over $16 billion annually in salaries and benefits.

00:22Yet evidence suggests that many of the employees advocate socialist or communist ideologies that clash with American values

00:30or certainly any oath that any of the employees might take.

00:34A 2024 whistleblower report from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs revealed diplomats praising collectivist policies

00:41and meeting with EU counterparts, undermining our free market stance.

00:46Are we going to continue funding a diplomatic corps that seems more aligned with Marx than Madison?

00:52And I'm serious about that. Like, what is the plan here?

00:54Does the department even recognize this as an issue?

01:00And I'm not talking about restricting the exercise of free thought or free speech,

01:06but if we're going to have people in our State Department advocating for the policies and beliefs of our adversaries,

01:14I think that's problematic. So that's a serious question to you.

01:18Thank you, Congressman, for your question.

01:22I'm just going to refer to the reorg for a moment, but it's in line with answering your question.

01:29And that is, as I've said, the reorganization is meant to bring the power over foreign policy back into the bureaus,

01:39but underneath senior bureau leadership that is aligned with this administration.

01:45And so under the leadership of not just myself, but the heads of those bureaus and, of course, Secretary Rubio,

01:55I'm confident that we'll be able to operate as a democracy

02:00and operate on these foreign policy objectives that the president has laid out.

02:05And I appreciate that. And again, we're not asking for fealty to an individual,

02:11but I think many of us are frustrated over time with the State Department that seems to be antithetical

02:16to the values of the country and the citizens it supports.

02:20And, you know, as an example here, the Department's 2022 Equity Action Plan costing $12 million last year projected

02:29at $15 million for FY26 promotes DEI initiatives that prioritize identity over merit, mirroring socialist frameworks.

02:39A 2023 internal survey showed 62 percent of foreign service officers supported policies like wealth taxes

02:47or nationalized industries that are those ideas are just rejected by by Americans.

02:54And furthermore, let's see here.

02:58Here's a true story.

02:59In 2024, a whistleblower in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor revealed a click of employees circulating a petition

03:06to soften sanctions on Cuba, citing humanitarian concerns while ignoring Havana's repression.

03:12The petition signed by 22 staff members was exposed by a Freedom of Information Act request.

03:19Again, we just prefer people that are loyal to the United States of America.

03:24I mean, Ana Montes is cool on her heels in a prison for being the most prolific operative working inside the United States of America,

03:34yet promoting Cuban communist policies.

03:38We simply can't have that, so I understand there's a reorganization going on,

03:42but if you can elucidate for us any of the policies in that reorganization that would kind of get a gauge

03:51on loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America.

03:56For instance, do employees take an oath regarding their loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America?

04:03Each employee of the Department of State takes an oath when they begin their service to the Constitution.

04:10I did, too, when I started on June 5th.

04:12It's the same oath.

04:13And so if employees of the State Department then advocate for the Communist Party of Cuba,

04:21is that seen as a violation, or will that be seen moving forward as a violation of that oath?

04:27Thank you, Congressman, for that question.

04:31I work every day with absolutely fabulous colleagues in the Department of State, Foreign Service, Civil Service,

04:41other staff in the Department.

04:45And I appreciate your concerns, and thank you for highlighting each of those issues.

04:50I will, you know, work with my colleagues in the Management Bureau to see how we might be able to address this.

04:57If it arises as a problem going forward.

04:59Pam, I appreciate your time.

05:00In fact, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I just want to close here before the chairman has to cut me off.

05:05We need a State Department that works in concert with the views of the Constitution of the United States of America

05:12and moves that agenda, the agenda of America, forward abroad.

05:17And we can't have employees, whether they're convicted of sedition or treason like Anna Montez was,

05:23or whether they're just expressing antithetical positions that help our enemies.

05:28We can't have them being the spokespersons and the policymakers for the United States of America.

05:36And there's got to be some repercussions for those kind of things in the Department of State.

05:40With that, I yield the balance.

05:42General.

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