▶ 0:12:12from the third highest ranking officer of the department of state, the under secretary for political affairs or P as the position is referred to inside of the state department. P oversees and directs via the regional bureaus the work of all of our embassies abroad and it has enormous influence over the deployment and the composition of the foreign service.
▶ 0:12:36This hearing will provide a greater insight into how the department's reorganization plan will change the division of labor between the so-called regional and functional bureaus and how the president's America first foreign policy will be implemented in the field. And I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Under the Biden administration, the State Department, in my opinion, operated without clear lines of command.
▶ 0:13:03I believe that it blurred responsibilities in many cases and that had a culture that prioritized process over the outcomes that the State Department would produce. I would use the DEI office as an example where they were worried about what the bucket of applicants would look like rather than the outcomes of those applicants and what they were delivering for the American taxpayer.
▶ 0:13:30That was a direct quote from the former DEI secretary Abberrombi Win Stanley. That has changed under President Biden, President Trump, and Secretary Rubio. This committee is working to restore real command and control at the State Department, something that the Pentagon has had for decades and something that the State Department desperately needs.
▶ 0:13:55We are crafting the first comprehensive standalone State Department authorization bill in over 20 years. This is not meant as a gesture. It is meant as a serious institutional We're not doing this for symbolism. We're doing it because there needs to be common sense and logic within our Our goal is simple.
▶ 0:14:21Bring order, bring clarity, and bring effectiveness to a department that too often prioritized institutional interests above the American interest. A perfect example is how members of Congress in too many cases are more concerned about somebody being fired from the State Department after 10 or 15 years of employment when they should be asking how productive those employees were and what were the measurable outcomes that were provided by them approving transgender
▶ 0:14:52operas or drag show tutorials or DEI musicals or LGBTQ comic books abroad. Under President Biden, the department suffered from a structural identity Maybe policy was delivered by one group, altered by another, and implemented by a third, often with no clear authority or Turf wars between regional and functional bureaus slowed everything down.
▶ 0:15:20The under secretary for political affairs is treated as first among But that phrase itself reveals to me a Too many equals, not enough leadership. No mission succeeds without a chain of command. And I believe that diplomacy is no exception.
▶ 0:15:41The State Department must operate like a strategic institution with a clear hierarchy, mission clarity, decisive leadership, and measurable It should not be a think tank that looks at the world as an academic exercise with no measurable outcomes. And our reforms aim to correct that. Some will resist this. They'll defend the status quo as if it's sacred.
▶ 0:16:09But we've seen what the status quo produces. mission drift, strategic confusion, a sprawling bureaucracy that's often more focused on virtue signaling than actually projecting American strength Let us be clear, this is not about copying the Pentagon. It's about applying common sense. At DoD, policy is made at the top through a chain of command that is recognizable to everybody.
▶ 0:16:39At the State Department, that discipline has been missing. We don't expect the State Department to be soldiers in uniform, but we should expect it to have a command structure that is recognizable and followed. We can't afford what has happened to happen again. Not when adversaries like China and Iran are using every tool at their disposal to undermine American power. We can't have a foreign service officers that freelance social experimentation.
▶ 0:17:10Our vision is straightforward. Functional bureaus and under secretaries should focus on developing policy clear, coherent, and grounded in national interest. Regional bureaus with their area expertise should adapt and execute that policy on the ground. This creates a clear flow of authority, streamlines operations, and ensures accountability at every level.
▶ 0:17:36What we've had are regional bureaus providing loose oversight of embassies that frequently operate like personal fifoms rather than implementing rather than the implementing arm of the state department. Under President Biden, we had embassies funding gender-incclusive leadership through Ultimate Frisbee in India for $100,000 or spending $425,000 to help Indonesian coffee companies be more gender and climate friendly.
▶ 0:18:02This hearing is part of a broader effort to realign the State Department with the mission it was meant to serve. Putting America first as the State Department of the United States of America. That requires more than tweaks. It requires structural change, cultural change, and a willingness to change the old order. I want to thank our witness for appearing today.
▶ 0:18:29We do look forward to your insight as we take the first step towards restoring command and control, discipline and mission focus at the United States Department of State. And in that, I now recognize my friend and my colleague, the ranking member from New York, Representative Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Under Secretary Hooker, for being here today. You've been given quite a job.
▶ 0:18:59Last week, your colleague, Michael Rodriguez, told the committee that the regional bureaus and the US diplomatic posts that you oversee would somehow fill all the gaps left by this administration's haphazard and short-sighted reorganization of the State Department and its unlawful dismantling of the US Agency for International Development.
▶ 0:19:25Now, that would make sense if this were a reorganization in name only. If the goal were to empower the regional bureaus, we'd expect them to be staffed up and properly resourced. But that's not what's happening.
▶ 0:19:43Instead, Secretary Rubio fired 1300 civil and foreign service officers across the department, squandering expertise which American taxpayers paid for and talent your bureaus now need.
▶ 0:20:01And rather than fund your work, this administration clawed back with the help of my colleagues across the aisle $8 billion in congressionally appropriated funds that was done in a bipartisan Add that on top of your poultry budget request for next year. You're staring at an 85% hole in the State Department's wallet.
▶ 0:20:30The department keeps repeating the talking points about having 1,500 domestic office units, but that's not the real issue. The question isn't whether we have too many offices. It's whether we have the right capabilities. In the limited briefings we've received, no one has demonstrated that you do. We shouldn't confuse complexity with inefficiency.
▶ 0:20:57America's diplomatic apparatus is specialized and it needs to be. Many of domestic operations are essential. They provide critical support to our missions overseas.
▶ 0:21:12Madame Under Secretary, you said in your confirmation hearing in April, and I quote, "The United States requires a modern diplomatic core that is ready to meet the challenges of a complex world." But I'm telling you, Madame Under Secretary, you've been set up to fail. This administration is asking asking you to do much more with much less. It's like being sent into a war zone with a water gun.
▶ 0:21:42You're expected to promote human rights without a Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. You're expected to prevent conflict without a conflict and stabilization operations bureau. You're expected to investigate war crimes without an office of global criminal justice. And that's just the beginning. But this is more than a logistical challenge. It's a values problem.
▶ 0:22:10This administration has openly declared its hostility to the values that center our foreign policy and give us influence and credibility around the world. Instead of defending democracy, President Trump and the MAGA Republicans cheer on its erosion in Hungary. Instead of standing for the rule of law, they strike lucrative crypto deals in the Gulf.
▶ 0:22:35And instead of condemning coup attempts, they cozy up to those who lead them in places like And US leadership is in retreat. The president is pulling the United States from multilateral organizations and handing our empty chair to who? China.
▶ 0:22:55With UNESCO being the latest example, our allies are issuing travel warnings not to come to the United States after seeing the administration's assault on international students and arbitrary roundups of people they think look suspicious. and American household incomes and the dollar are both dropping as the president wages nonsensical and self-defeating trade war with the world. Our adversaries are watching all of this and celebrating.
▶ 0:23:24They see a United States that is disarming itself strategically, diplomatically, and morally. President Trump's petty, chaotic leadership after yet another Oval Office meeting with a foreign leader turned into tabloid FOD is signaling to the world that the United States foreign policy is not driven by values or national interest, but by a quid proquo regime in service to one wouldbe king. Now is not the time to gut our diplomacy.
▶ 0:23:53Now is the time to strengthen it. But the Trump administration has no process, no vision or strategy to compete and win on the global stage. And it certainly won't achieve our strategic foreign policy goals on a shoestring budget with a hollowedout staff. This administration's best explanation for all of this, a slogan, America first. That will only leave America last.
▶ 0:24:18Madam Secretary, I hope you'll be able to provide more than just slogans today. Thank you and I yield back my time.
▶ 0:24:27Other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. We're pleased to have the under secretary of state for political affairs, Allison Hooker, before us today. Your full statements will be made a part of the record and I'll ask that you keep your spoken remarks to five minutes in order to allow time for member questions. And I now recognize you under secretary Hooker for your opening statement.
▶ 0:24:49Thank you very much, Chairman. Good morning, Chairman Mast, Ranking Member Meeks, and distinguished members of the committee. It's an honor to be before you today as under secretary of state for political affairs. Since stepping into this role just over six weeks ago, I've had the opportunity to accompany Secretary Rubio on three overseas missions, two of which were in support of President Trump. These early engagements were not ceremonial.
▶ 0:25:18They were urgent high level diplomatic efforts demanding precision, speed, and strategic focus. They reflect the president's clear directive that our diplomacy be focused, effective, and firmly grounded in America first The president's bold approach could not be more timely.
▶ 0:25:38The United States faces a global landscape defined by intensifying strategic competition, destabilizing mass migration, transnational crime, unfair trade practices, and the challenges of forging durable partnerships in a rapidly shifting world. Meeting these challenges requires a department of state that is leaner, sharper, and more responsive. An institution built not for bureaucracy, but for results.
▶ 0:26:07Unfortunately, that is not the department we inherited. Let me be clear. As a former CI former civil servant with over two decades of service, I have deep and abiding respect for the dedication and talent of the department's workforce. Foreign service, civil service, locally employed staff and others. But even the most skilled workforce cannot thrive within a system that is structurally flawed.
▶ 0:26:33For too long, our organization has been burdened by overlapping mandates, unclear chains of command, and a proliferation of singleisssue offices detached from our broader national priorities. As the deput the deputy secretary of management and resources testified before this committee last week, when Secretary Rubio unveiled the reorganization plan on April 22nd, the department had more than 1500 domestic office units.
▶ 0:27:02That's an astonishing figure for an agency whose central mission is to represent American interests overseas. With this complexity has come a lack of accountability to the president and ultimately to the American people. When lines of responsibilities blur and decision-making is spread across multiple actors, it becomes hard to ensure that the department's work is fully aligned with the priorities of the elected leadership.
▶ 0:27:31This undermines not only efficiency but also the most essential democratic principle that our government agencies must be responsive and accountable to those they serve. Calls for reform are nothing new. But this time reform reform is not theoretical. It is happening under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Rubio. We are executing a fundamental transformation of the department.
▶ 0:27:57one rooted in achieving operational effectiveness and institutional accountability. This reorganization was never about individual people or positions. It was about structure and strategic alignment.
▶ 0:28:11And at the heart of this transformation is the empowerment of our regional bureaus and through them our posts By consolidating policy tools under our regional bureaus, we are creating single lines of accountability that will allow us to move faster, speak with greater clarity, and deliver more impactful These changes will ensure that our diplomacy is no longer driven by dozens of different offices with competing priorities and authorities,
▶ 0:28:42but by mission focused core, fully empowered and aligned with the president's As part of this effort, we are also taking bold action on foreign assistance. For too long, development projects have lacked local buyin, delivered limited impact, or reflected ideological agendas rather than US strategic interests. In the process, we've alienated partners and created openings for our competitors to expand their influence.
▶ 0:29:13That era is over. As of July 1, ongoing foreign assistance programs of the United States Agency for International Development have been transitioned to the Department of State. This historic transition brings us into alignment with how most of our allies operate and enables us to treat foreign assistance not as a siloed enterprise but as a core tool of US foreign policy.
▶ 0:29:41This does not mean the United States is stepping back from the world. On the contrary, we remain the largest provider of foreign assistance globally. But moving forward, every dollar we invest abroad will be treated exactly as that, an investment, an investment in American security, an investment in American jobs, and an investment in our great nation's strength.
▶ 0:30:04Under President Trump's leadership and with Secretary Rubio's clear direction, we are executing an America first foreign policy that is principled, pragmatic, and unapologetically focused on delivering for the American people. The challenges are immense, but so is our resolve. And now we have an institution designed to meet this moment. I'm deeply honored to serve in this role and to help drive this transformation forward.
▶ 0:30:31I look forward to working with Congress in our shared mission to safeguard US interests on the global stage. Thank you and I welcome your questions. Thank you, Secretary Hooker. Now I'm going to recognize member alternating between uh Republican and Democrat sides for five minutes of questioning. I'm going to begin by recognizing my colleague uh the 435th most important member.
▶ 0:30:54435 on the chart. Number one in your
▶ 0:30:57Number one in my heart.
▶ 0:30:58Very good.
▶ 0:30:59Thank you, brother. And I want to thank uh ranking member, my my fashion consultant and my workout partner. It's always good to see him here. He's an inspiration to me on the in the workout room. Thank you, ma'am. Um I kind of feel like the Jefferson's theme song. I'm kind of moving on up because this is the second day in a row I've been the first person to uh ask a dad gum question. So I'm kind of fired up about that, Mr. Chairman. So my question will not be asked 50 times by the time I get to it. So thank you, ma'am.
▶ 0:31:28Um, how do you plan to stop things like foreign aid from going to stuff like drag shows in Peru? You know, that's um I always hear, well, that's just a small amount of money. But, you know, when you're talking tens of millions of dollars, dad gamut, people in East Tennessee, they'll never see that kind of money in their lifetimes. And to me, it it just is very
▶ 0:31:50Thank you, Congressman, for that question. And and this is a a huge concern of ours and one of the main reasons that the steps have been taken to transition our foreign assistance programs and and those who govern our foreign assistance into the regional bureaus. Um this is one of the chief uh objectives we've been trying to achieve. You've mentioned just one program there. There dozens of these programs that would um make your hair stand up. Um, and I'm happy to to give a list of those.
▶ 0:32:18Um, if you'd like to see see additional ones, but um,
▶ 0:32:22I would like for you to get that to me as well in something printed form. I'd appreciate that, ma'am.
▶ 0:32:27Yes, sir.
▶ 0:32:28I always ask that and they always agree and say, "Oh, I'm going to get that to you." And I never get it. So, I'd appreciate that, ma'am.
▶ 0:32:33Yes, sir. Well, I've got a good staff sitting behind me. They're taking notes and we'll make sure to get that to you.
▶ 0:32:38Thank you. But sir, um just to just to underscore this is one of the main objectives of moving foreign assistance into the bureaus um so that we do have polit political leadership governing these programs. And not only are they going to um not implement these these type of programs with hard-earned American taxpayer money, um but they're also going to be able to tailor programs to uh have the maximum impact in the regional uh area of responsibility that
▶ 0:33:08um these bureaus cover. So, uh, with with the reorganization, as Chairman Mass referred to in in his, um, opening remarks as well, we're going to make sure that our foreign assistance serves the American interests. Um, and also, um, something that American taxpayers can be proud of.
▶ 0:33:24Do you all have the appropriate channels to conduct oversight and provide transparency um, when it comes to foreign aid?
▶ 0:33:31Uh, yes, sir. Um that's part of again part of moving the assistance programs that had been um uh conducted under USID into the department under the regional bureaus to make sure we have that kind of oversight.
▶ 0:33:46Yes, ma'am. You listed about three bureaucracies there and that always scares me um about the transparency. Are y'all concerned about foreign service officers advancing their own agendas?
▶ 0:33:58Um thank you for that question, Congressman. Um the way again the way that we have structured structured this is to make sure that um all of these programs are being implemented and conducted under political leadership not just within the regional bureaus but our ambassadors overseas. Um they're answerable to the president. They are the president's representative in each of the countries that they've been dispatched to.
▶ 0:34:20Um so I am uh confident that department both foreign service officers, civil service officers and locally employed staff who will be implementing these programs as well will be able to do so in in a in a form that again the American people can be proud
▶ 0:34:37Do y'all um how can you take more of the approach of take Amanda teach a man to fish approach? I love to fish but I love that analogy. Um, can y'all are y'all doing that more now than just putting people in a food line?
▶ 0:34:53Uh, yes. Uh, Congressman, thank you for that question. Indeed, that is another objective of our foreign assistance going forward. That we're able to graduate countries that we provide assistance to from just being dependent on that assistance to be able um to provide for themselves or that regional partners um are also able to pick up part of the burden.
▶ 0:35:14the the the objective is that we will no longer have longstanding dependencies um on US foreign assistance, but that these countries, as I said, would graduate from those programs.
▶ 0:35:28Okay. The two things I I would hope that we'd promote, this isn't in my notes, but I always I think we do we used to do a really good job of this before we got I think um led astray, is we should promote democracy. And I think we ought to u promote capitalism. I think we've done a pretty poor job of that in the past. And I would hope that would be at the top of y'all's agenda. I think that's a couple of things that at least in the early years we did a pretty daggum good job of.
▶ 0:35:58So, thank you ma'am. And I yield back the remainder of my one second, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
▶ 0:36:03Thank you, Representative Burchett.
▶ 0:36:05Please use it wisely.
▶ 0:36:07We'll do. I won't squander it. Ranking member Meeks.
▶ 0:36:11Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madame Under Secretary, both Secretary Rubio and Deputy Secretary Riggus have said that the State Department's reorganization puts regional bureaus in post in the lead after single issue functional offices like Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau, DRL, distorted foreign policy. They assured us that DRL's work isn't going away, but rather being transferred to regional bureaus.
▶ 0:36:41Now, I start out by saying I have serious concerns about that because DRL was one of those departments that has enjoyed bipartisan congressional support for decades uh where we not hear heard any of the some of the things that are said. Now, now because some of the restrictions I have in time, I've got a few yes or no questions I would like to ask you. Um, so that I can really understand how you did this.
▶ 0:37:10Do do you have a written plan for obser absorbing the work formally done by DRL into the regional bureaus? Thank you chairman uh ranking member um for that question. Each bureau is going to tailor its programs to meet the needs of the
▶ 0:37:32but my question is do you have one now?
▶ 0:37:35Each each regional bureau is formulating their plans for uh each of these uh
▶ 0:37:40so the answer to that is no. I have I have limited time. So the answer is that as of right now you said there's process there is no plan right
▶ 0:37:48there's nothing that you can provide now but as of right now there's no plan
▶ 0:37:54uh let me ask this question then um did you consult senior DRL officials or stakeholders making these changes
▶ 0:38:11sir as deputy secretary rigus shared there was great consultation taken
▶ 0:38:16Again, that's just a yes or no. Did you consult senior DRL officials or stakeholders before making these changes? Because it seems to me there's no plan now.
▶ 0:38:31So, I guess the answer has to be that you have not
▶ 0:38:35and some of them are gone. So to make sure that you're doing something serious as far as policy is concerned to continue that work, you're already handicapped. If there's no plan now, you just decided we're going to cut it. You didn't make a decision. There was no determination that it was no need for it. You absorbed it. There was no consultation with senior DRL officials or stakeholders before deciding to make these changes.
▶ 0:39:05So there's nothing that you can provide because we have oversight committee to this committee so that we can look to see whether there was something intelligently done or not. Well, let me ask this question. Did you absorb any staff formally assigned to DRL into the regional Was any staff absorbed formal staffs? Sir, each of these functions are going are going to continue in the bureau.
▶ 0:39:34A simple question you can just ask me.
▶ 0:39:37So to perform these functions in the regional bureau,
▶ 0:39:39was any that's my
▶ 0:39:41formally assigned to the DRL, were any of them absorbed into the regional
▶ 0:39:48I'm happy to get back to you with a list of officers that are going to be performing these duties going forward. So I have to make the presumption that none of the individuals who have the expertise who knew what was going on with reference to DRL none of them have been absorbed and so therefore there is a great number of a brain drain that has taken place as a result of the 1300 people at the state department that was left on. So now let me move on because time is running out.
▶ 0:40:18In your opening statement, you said when lines of responsibility blur and decision-making is spread across multiple actors, it becomes harder to ensure that the department's work is fully aligned with the priorities of elected leadership. Do you think government agencies should reflect the priorities of elected leaders? Yes or no? And that's because elected leaders represent the will of the American people.
▶ 0:40:48Is that correct?
▶ 0:40:50That's correct.
▶ 0:40:51Yes. So, Mr. Chairman, I'm going to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a July 18th New York Times article describing a cable from Secretary Rubio instructing the department's workforce to, and I quote, avoid opinion on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country are in question. Order. And I see that my time is just about expired.
▶ 0:41:21So I will give you additional questions madam secretary because I have a bunch more about the draft who did it and who you know whether it was you whether it was secretary or you had any part of it uh as uh as well as some other things.
▶ 0:41:34So, I have much more uh to talk to you about and hopefully when our office sends a letter or a phone call with a request to have these dialogues and conversations with you that we will get a response back because we do have oversight committee uh uh uh responsibilities as being a member of the United States Congress and the Foreign Affairs Committee, both Democrats, both Republicans and Democrats has that responsibility. Thank you and I yield back, Mr.
▶ 0:42:03Yeah, chair now recognizes Representative Isa.
▶ 0:42:07You know, I adore my ranking member because there wasn't time for you to answer most of the questions fully, but there was an extra 50 seconds for his closing statement after the bell ran out. Let me uh switch subjects a little and mine may be a little bit yes or no, but if they're not, you just tell me.
▶ 0:42:24Um, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent US foreign aid agency focused on reducing poverty through economic growth and uh in a well-governed developing country and uh it it touts transparency and measurable results. Now, that corporation was formed under the man behind me uh the late Henry Hyde.
▶ 0:42:51It was formed on a bipartisan basis and it had it made the assumption that everything was zerobased. You had to compete for it. You had to earn it and you and then you would be checked and measured. If you didn't achieve it, it would be cut. Only if you were achieving it and there was still a need would there continue to be funding.
▶ 0:43:14Now, knowing that that's been its mission, and we won't argue whether it's achieved all of its missions or not, isn't that the mission that your uh administration is redirecting now for the rest of the aid program to meet those same criteria that we broadly created a whole separate corporation to to do?
▶ 0:43:36Thank you, Congressman, uh, for that question. Um, yes. Um but the as I mentioned in my opening statements the efforts that we have taken that secretary Rubio that the president has taken um is meant to streamline these functions mean to stream streamline these opportunities um if we have multiple siloed uh uh efforts underway um it just it takes more time to implement and
▶ 0:44:05madam secretary I couldn't agree with you more and I want to narrow the question because
▶ 0:44:10I believe that you've just begun to do the right thing. I believe that Millennium Challenge Corporation was the right idea, except that I question today whether or not when we're competing for hearts and minds and for effective helping of of foreign countries if that stated goal shouldn't be for one agency under the Secretary of State combined.
▶ 0:44:37So, I'm delighted to see USID rolled back into state. Um, I I during the Trump one administration, I was designated as a trade development agency head. I would hope that we would do the same thing even further with the other fundings and loan programs. But you said something that I think is very important. You said that that things should serve America's interest. And I just want to ask you a couple of questions.
▶ 0:45:06They're mostly yes or no. Uh one, is America's interest in alleviating poverty uh with those countries that if our money were added, we would help them do that. Meaning you don't put the money just anywhere. You put it where it can make a
▶ 0:45:30Yes, that's what our assistance programs
▶ 0:45:32Okay. And doesn't that mean that you inherited a countless amount of overlapping programs that have been around for a very long time that had not achieved their goal, were not achieving their goal, and in some cases with countries that were not currently structured to benefit from that money.
▶ 0:45:52So this is this is exactly the goal of the reorganization as it relates to foreign assistance programs. um by putting the foreign assistance programs into the state department under the governance of the regional bureaus being executed uh overseas with oversight from the ambassadors who have been empowered to make sure these programs meet the needs um that they were intended for. That's that's exactly the goal of of Secretary Rubio. Um
▶ 0:46:20now now if I can use my remaining time to be a little specific and parochial. Uh recently there was a uh an effort on the House floor in appropriations to defund the Lebanese armed forces in their effort to uh uh uh uh basically to eliminate Hezbollah's ability to regenerate itself and threaten its neighbors.
▶ 0:46:44Um the State Department has continued along with DoD the funding of the Lebanese armed forces uh along with other aid to Lebanon in that effort. Do you stand by that as a good investment in a country trying to emerge from being an occupied state?
▶ 0:47:01Sir, thank you for that question. Um, as is true across the region, uh, in in the in, um, in the Middle East, you know, the president is aimed at seeing a ceasefire across all of the conflicts that are going on. As you, uh, probably are aware, Ambassador Bareric um, is is very much engaged in Lebanon and working
▶ 0:47:22and Syria. I appreciate him being special envoy to both
▶ 0:47:25and ambassador to Turkey. He wears multiple hats as many do um in our organization. Um but he's very much uh engaged in that and it's the goal of uh of the administration to ensure that the region uh returns to stability, peace, and prosperity in the future as well.
▶ 0:47:43Thank you. Thank you, M. Chairman. Yield
▶ 0:47:45Thank you, Congressman.
▶ 0:47:46Chair now recognizes Representative Sherman. Madam Secretary, I hope you'd focus on the aid that Armenia needs as a result of well over a 100,000 people being ethnically cleansed from Artsac and now living in Armenia. And I hope that you direct our ambassador to Pakistan to visit Imran Khan in prison to demonstrate our dedication to the rule of law and to re uh visit Dr. This is the in prison.
▶ 0:48:16This is the man that did more for America than any foreigner since Lafayette and he languishes in a Pakistani jail. He helped us get bin Laden. Now, I'm inspired by our chair. Um, he talks about Congress not doing its job for 15 years and not focusing on how the State Department was run. I was here
▶ 0:48:41I was here for the 20 years we did. And if you'd watched us on C-SPAN 3, you would have seen Congress do a good job. But today's Congress has been cancelled because congressional leadership needs six weeks to figure out an excuse for not revealing the Epstein files or limiting those revelations only to the very few papers that are in the grand jury testimony. The chair talks about measurable outcomes.
▶ 0:49:10I've been here for 30 years. How many times before today have we canled Congress in order to carry out a pedophile protection project? Zero. It's measurable until now. But measurable outcomes you don't get that way by looking at onetenth of one of onetenth of onetenth of 1% and finding one mistake or or even a collection of a few mistakes that the State Department and the USAD made.
▶ 0:49:41If we did that, we'd cancel the Dodger season because they committed an error last night. Measurable outcomes. Um, we've got the Center for Global Development that 3.3 million people will die this year because of the gutting of USID. We've got Boston University demonstrating that 300,000 people have already died as a result of that.
▶ 0:50:10We've got the secretary Rubio coming to the the table you're sitting at there and saying zero people have died. Do you stand by the secretary in saying that when the richest man in the world took food and medicine from the poorest people in the world that that has resulted in zero deaths? Because we want measurable outcomes. Is it zero?
▶ 0:50:34Thank you, Congressman, for that question. And um
▶ 0:50:37I I'm asking I asked a yes or no question. Madam Secretary, I asked a yes or no question. I want a yes or no answer. If you don't want to do that, I'll simply go on.
▶ 0:50:46You're asking.
▶ 0:50:47Do you stand by the statement of the Secretary of State that zero people have died in the world as a result of the gutting of USAD? Do you stand by it or not? Yes or no?
▶ 0:50:57Thank you, Congressman, for your question. I stand by what Secretary Rubio said and thank you because I've got more questions. expound if you give
▶ 0:51:06I would point out that those people will die chiefly as a result of malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis disease will infect millions of people in poor countries. It will then replicate, mutate and migrate back here in stronger form.
▶ 0:51:23And I know, so I want to ask the question, the State Department has no system to measure how many Americans will die when this more virulent disease comes here because the richest man in the world took medicine away from the poorest. Uh but we've got US taxpayer dollars buying 500 metric tons of emergency food that was destroyed by the State Department. That's measurable.
▶ 0:51:49and uh uh 80,000 doses of EMPOX vaccine that were pledged to African nations are about to be destroyed. Are you focused on how we're going to literally burn taxpayer dollars by burning vaccine uh that is in the State Department uh warehouses?
▶ 0:52:06I'm focused on all these things.
▶ 0:52:08Thank you. Well, I hope you will give us a measurable result and tell us what the cost is of uh the loss the burning already of the 500 thou 500 metric tons of emergency food and the 8800,000 dosages of EMPOX vaccine. Please respond for the record what how many taxpayer dollars were burned.
▶ 0:52:30Finally, uh Carrie Lake testified before us that we couldn't uh trust the uh viewership and listenership numbers uh from uh uh uh from Voice of America. Can we trust those numbers? They are measurable. Do you trust the numbers uh as to how what the listenership was? Um I'm not sure that's relevant to the P family issues, but I'm happy to take
▶ 0:52:55public diplomacy is very much part and uh you can't do public public diplomacy without broadcasting. Of course, we're going to try having gutted uh Voice of America at sister uh sister stations. Uh I'll point out that those were also Trump administration numbers that Carrie Lake said we couldn't trust. So it's glad to know who she trusts. I yield
▶ 0:53:16Gentleman yields back. Chair now recognizes Representative Moland. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As especially now, as we're working with the State Department reorganization bill, it's essential uh that we do hear from the Bureau of Political Affairs uh which serves um of course and I appreciate you coming on over and uh and your deep experience in East East Asia affairs and given Guam's critical role in the region, I look forward to working with you very closely.
▶ 0:53:47Uh now when it comes to East Asia and the Pacific, of course, um the PRC is there and it's a it's a great threat. Uh they're undermining our maritime security and critical minerals and we have great vulnerability in our supply chain and we're conf we're confronting a broad complex range of issues.
▶ 0:54:12So it's important that we have a especially this uh with our allies and it's un undeniable that we really need to work closely with ASEAN and Quad and AK uh Akus and uh US Japan and the Philippines the trilateral cooperation there for our economic stability in this region.
▶ 0:54:34So therefore it's significant uh that the secretary reaffirm our Indo-Pacific focal point of the US foreign policy uh during Assan's conference and the role of your bureau is to an analyze this regional dynamics and crafting strategies and effective engagement.
▶ 0:54:56So that's why I'm so happy that you're doing this overhaul and streamlining our strategies and uh looking at our re uh resource allocations across uh the department so we can enhance our engagement with our foreign partners. So under under secretary there I want to want to ask you a question now. Which regions and types of operations should be prioritized to effectively counter China's influence?
▶ 0:55:25Congressman, thank you for that question and also for the opportunity to respond. and I, you know, very focused on East Asia throughout my entire career. Um, but what I've truly enjoyed not just over the past six weeks as I've taken this role, um, but also in my previous work in in the first Trump administration, looking at how, um, we are, uh, mobilizing our efforts to, um, to compete with China around the world.
▶ 0:55:56It's not just about the Indoacific, it's about our engagement globally. So, thank you for for your focus on this as well. you noted the Azion um conference that uh we just attended recently. I had the privilege of going with Secretary Rubio um and and uh being with him for um for all of those engagements. And um as I mentioned in my opening statement, these were not just ceremonial, they're very urgent.
▶ 0:56:20We're talking about urgent issues like supply chains and um overseas scam oper operations that are targeting not just Americans but our allies and partners as well. So it's important um and the reason we're here today is to speak about uh the reorganization and its impact but what we've done to reorganize the department um focusing uh the um focusing power underneath the regional and regional bureaus and also our embassies
▶ 0:56:51overseas really gives um the the purview to the leadership to be able to uh to plan for competition not just in Indoacific but around the world. Um, so we're working very closely with each of the bureau leads and with our ambassadors to ensure we're able to do that.
▶ 0:57:07Thank you. And you served as the special assistant for the Korean Peninsula at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration as North Korea continues to pose serious threat in the region. How would you characterize the current administration North Korean policy compared to that
▶ 0:57:26Thank you, Congressman, for that question. Well, I think we can all agree that North North Korea continues to pose a threat not just to the United States but to the world through its uh long range missile program through its nuclear program. Um and we are very much paying attention to that uh as are our allies in the region. Some of the things we're doing are working with the trilateral engagement with Japan and Korea. Um we're increasing deterrence um with both of those allies.
▶ 0:57:55also working with our Indopaccom colleagues to make sure that we can defend uh the American homeland from any of those threats. Um and so I I look forward to continuing to work on that with Secretary Rubio and with the president going forward and thank you for your interest in that issue and I'm happy to stay in touch with you as we develop those plans.
▶ 0:58:15I appreciate that very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Chair recognizes Representative Barah.
▶ 0:58:19Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Secretary Hooker, um, I don't know you and we've not met. So, um, I'm going to give you my observations. You know, prior to coming to Congress, I was medical director of Care Man for five hospital system, thousands of employees, then went to the public sector, was chief medical officer for Sacramento County. Again, thousand employees, multiple departments.
▶ 0:58:42Um, it's not the same magnitude as the State Department or the United States federal government, but when we did reorganizations, and I'm not against taking a look at programs, looking at efficacy, looking at where we are, we didn't just lay off all the employees. We looked at folks that we had, looked at their talents, evaluated where they were, came up with a plan, understood what that plan was, what that reorganization, and then where it was appropriate, matched that.
▶ 0:59:11We've had several hearings here asking if you would provide us what that strategic plan is, what that looks like, how you're evaluating personnel. Um, who's getting laid off, who's not getting laid off. Again, I appreciate your two decades of service. Um, and I'm sure you've worked with foreign service officers. You've worked with men and women that represent the United States of America around the world. I think these are patriotic Americans. I think these folks have been mistreated.
▶ 0:59:40I think um what Doge did immediately laying people off, bringing them back, laying them off, bringing them back was haphazard. It was dangerous and it's reckless. Again, I'm not sitting up here saying we shouldn't rethink what diplomacy and development in the 21st century looks like. Clearly, the world is different today than it was in the 75 years post World War II. But we did this in a bipartisan way. You know what we did after World War II was quite remarkable.
▶ 1:00:10Creating peace and stability. What we did winning the Cold War in a bipartisan way with Congress, not Democrats and Republicans, but American strategy was quite remarkable. We won the Cold War without actually going to war. What I would argue is what's happening right now is being done in a partisan way with the executive branch not involving Congress. Um, I appreciate the the chairman's desire to do a State Department authorization bill.
▶ 1:00:37I appreciate the markup that we had yesterday and I would urge the administration to work closely with Congress because if all you do is reorganize diplomacy and development um by yourself, we will get the White House one day, hopefully in three years. We will get the majority one day, hopefully in a year and a half. We don't want to keep going back and forth. We want to come up with an American strategy that's not a Republican strategy or a Democratic strategy. One that reflects the world that we live in today.
▶ 1:01:06You talked about those challenges, mass um trade practices, economic practices that don't reflect today's world, um transnational crime, just to name a few. War in Europe, um modernizing what NATO looks like, um avoiding World War II in Asia. Those are all hugely important things that we have to do to best protect the American people.
▶ 1:01:31Again, I would urge you, Secretary Hooker, to work with us on this, to think about what that looks like, to look at the efficiency of programs, to create new programs. You know, I appreciate my colleague from Tennessee saying, you know, we don't want to just give folks fish, we want to teach them how to fish. that is going to run into huge political challenges because many of my red state Republicans have programs that support farmers to have them grow food to send that food overseas.
▶ 1:01:57I would much rather we take our best scientists, have them go to Africa, look at um the best modern um farming practices, teach them how to farm and feed themselves. That would be a much better way to alleviate hunger in Africa. That isn't how the political systems been set up in the United States. Um, I would much rather us think about global health security and ways to reorganize that so we don't have malaria over here, tuberculus over here, HIV over here. But is there a better way to do this?
▶ 1:02:26Again, I would urge you to work with Congress, with Democrats and Republicans to think about what a modern State Department, modern aid and development look like, how we work through the inter agency operations. But I would also urge you to not haphazardly lay off some of our best foreign policy folks, our best foreign service officers.
▶ 1:02:48The folks that are actually there to prepare you to do your job, to prepare Secretary um Rubio to do his job, the folks that prepared you for that OSEN conference, they've all been laid off. Um I just worry about how we're weakening the United States. We're weakening our role in the world. The world is a much better place with the United States. Um, we should work with our allies and friends and modernize what that looks like for the 21st century for the sake of our kids and our grandkids.
▶ 1:03:17We want them to have the same peace, prosperity, and stability as the world. So, there's no question here. There's just advice. Work with us on this. Otherwise, we'll just be going back and forth and it'll weaken the United States. So, thank you. I yield
▶ 1:03:30Representative yields back. Chair recognizes Representative McCormack.
▶ 1:03:36Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, and thank you for being here today with us. Uh, I was kind of chuckling to myself to watch people kind of walk in here, ask you a bunch of questions, not allow you to answer, and then leave. Uh, basically painting this administration yourself as somebody who has no feelings towards anybody else or the world or any impact on the United States, which is absolutely ridiculous. Um, I think a lot of people right now are getting confused between American first and American only interests around the world.
▶ 1:04:05I think we just recently passed a bill that uh shored up our support for the Cox Bazaar region with about a million Rohingyan refugees from Myanmar uh in about 13 square kilometers which uh I visited last year which uh with great interest. We have about 26 million refugees around the world right now that are displaced that could cause great upheaval in the social fabric of the world which could impact us financially and otherwise which I'm sure you're well aware of especially with your expertise.
▶ 1:04:34Um, for those who don't realize how this this plays out, uh, a person in the Cox Bazar Rohingyan refugee camp survives off about $8 per person per month. Per month. $8 per person per month. A lot of that's from our our aid and other people's age around the world.
▶ 1:04:55Let's compare that to a Biden administration that a re a person who comes across the southern border and then gets put into a non-forbid contract where they put somebody on a cot and give them three meals a day for $800 per person per day and then they want to criticize us for mismanagement. I think that's hilarious.
▶ 1:05:18I want you to comment on the ridiculous statements that you were not allowed to given response to on our waste, fraud, and abuse as if we're the bad guys in this when comparing those two examples that are blatant disregard for factual content. I'm going to give you the remainder of my time to respond to things that the other side have not given you an opportunity up to this point. With that, it's your floor. Congressman, thank you so much for your question and thank you for your interest in the Rohhinga in in the region.
▶ 1:05:48And I will start by saying that uh part of what we've done with our foreign assistance so far is to provide 77 million to Rahinga refugees um in Bangladesh and um we care very deeply about that issue and will continue to work with our Bureau of South and Central Asia to address those issues and also with other partners in the region to look for ways um to bring uh care and comfort to the refugees there. Sir, I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
▶ 1:06:17Um, there have been so many questions I've not been able to respond to. I'm trying to figure out which one might be um the most fun uh to to react to. But just to your um to your initial question about the kinds of foreign assistance that we have terminated, um I just like to run through a couple of those programs. Um maybe a couple of them have been mentioned already today.
▶ 1:06:38Um but there was 1.5 million to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia's workplace um and business communities um under the previous administration under USI aid uh uh um performance.
▶ 1:06:53Um, there was $70,000 uh for production of a DI DEI musical in Ireland, 2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam, 47,000 for trans transgender opera in Colombia, 32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru, 2 million for sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala, 6 million to fund tourism in Egypt.
▶ 1:07:20Um, you know, I could I and I was asked to provide a list of these um kinds of programs that we've ended uh and made sure will not uh resurface under our leadership and under the reorganization. We will provide a full list of that.
▶ 1:07:38Um, but I just like to say that it is um the president's greatest privilege um and his highest priority to make sure that the American people are best and well served, not just um here domestically, but abroad and that taxpayer dollars are being spent well and in a way that our the American people can be be proud of.
▶ 1:08:00This reorganization um as I mentioned in my opening statement was not aimed just uh to respond to um Representative Sherman's question was was not aimed at um at eliminating uh the expertise out of the State Department. The State Department is full of um remains full of very capable experts um people that I'm very proud to continue to serve with.
▶ 1:08:26The reorganization was aimed at reducing redundancies um and to make sure that we've streamlined the policy process so that um we can execute effectively and efficiently on the president's priorities um both at home and abroad. Thank you congressman for your question
▶ 1:08:43and thank you. I just want to point out once again just reinforce all that money DEI musicals operas comic books and transitions abroad. I rest my case with that. I yield. Chair recognizes Representative Jacobs.
▶ 1:08:58Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I would just note those are six programs of the over hundreds and hundreds of programs that the State Department and USAD implemented over the years. Um, I know as a a former State Department employee myself. Um, but Under Secretary Hooker, um, I wanted to ask you about the Global Fragility Act and the future of it uh, in this administration.
▶ 1:09:19Last week I questioned Deputy Secretary Riggus on this and um as you may already be familiar hopefully because it's the law um the Global Fragility Act is a bipartisan landmark law that passed in 2019 that was designed to implement many of the lessons learned from years of costly and unsuccessful US stabilization efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and It was designed to make foreign assistance more strategic and effective and more aligned with our policies.
▶ 1:09:48something that uh this current administration talks about. Um Congress has also made clear its continued bipartisan support. I recently introduced a reauthorization bill with Chair Meredis McCall and the House National Security Appropriations Bill just appropriated money for GFA In response to my questions, Deputy Secretary Riggus testified that GFA would now be implemented by regional bureaus, dismantling the CSO bureau um and firing all of its staff that had previously been in charge of implementing this.
▶ 1:10:19Uh under Secretary Hooker, given this, can you describe your plans to oversee the implementation of this landmark bipartisan law?
▶ 1:10:27Thank you, Congresswoman, for for your question. I uh did have the opportunity to watch under secretary, excuse me, deputy secretary's hearing and I do recall your question on on that issue. Um and under and deputy secretaries deputy secretary rigus's answer is is still accurate. Um the regional bureaus will be performing the function of those
▶ 1:10:51Okay. And how will you ensure that this is a priority for regional bureaus to implement and that staff with relevant conflict expertise and background on this legislation are leading its
▶ 1:11:03Well, that Thank you, Congresswoman, um, for your follow-up question. The entire uh, intention of the reorg was to make sure that regional bureaus are able to execute on just these kinds of issues.
▶ 1:11:16No, I understand that that's the intention. I want to know how you plan on doing that. I plan on overseeing the the bureaus and their leadership and making sure that not just this issue that um is very important, but every other issue that we've talked about um some of which I had not had a chance to respond that each of these issues will be integrated fully into each regional bureau. That's my responsibility is overseeing the bureaus.
▶ 1:11:40And when it comes to specific issues, um I'm happy to work with the senior bureau official to um work with you so that you understand how that's being implemented going forward.
▶ 1:11:51Okay. Um I I appreciate that. Um almost all of the GFA programs have now been cancelled. So I guess um what I would like um is a a written plan to this committee on how you plan on actually ensuring conflict expertise is integrated into the P family.
▶ 1:12:11um how you are planning on implementing the global fragility act including ensuring that conflict expertise is going to be housed and prioritized in the regional bureaus and how you will be carrying out the monitoring evaluation and learning requirements not just of the foreign assistance programs but of the strategies themselves. Will you commit to providing that plan?
▶ 1:12:33I commit to work with you and with the bureaus to provide um answers to your
▶ 1:12:38Okay. not quite committing to provide a plan, but I will look forward to working with you on that. Um, I also uh want to turn uh to Sudan. As I'm sure you know, Sudan is now not only the largest and fastest displacement crisis in the world, but now the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded. Um, do you agree with the Biden administration's determination that the RSF has committed genocide in Sudan? Thank you, Congressman, for your question um on this important issue.
▶ 1:13:09We are um paying very close attention to Sudan. We um as you may know that both uh the leaders of the RSF um and the opposition group uh have both been sanctioned. Um this is you
▶ 1:13:21it's a simple question. Do you agree with the genocide determination?
▶ 1:13:25I'm not familiar with that with the determination. I'm happy to look into that. Um but what I can tell you is that we are conducting a a review of our policy on on Sudan um in the Bureau of African Affairs and I'm happy to be in touch with you as we do that.
▶ 1:13:42Uh wonderful. Also, because you do not yet had a have a confirmed um assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, nor do you have a special envoy for Sudan as mandated by law. Um, so my time is running out, but I uh look forward to working with you to make sure that you actually have the relevant expertise in the bureau and in the department to actually be able to prioritize this very important humanitarian crisis. Thank you. I yelled
▶ 1:14:05Thank you. We we do still have expertise on Africa um and the department and the Bureau of African Affairs. Thank you.
▶ 1:14:13The gentle lady's time is expired. Uh the chair now recognizes himself for five minutes. Um, Under Secretary Hooker, thank you for your service and your time here today with us. Uh, for the past few congresses, I've led um bills restricting outbound investments into Chinese military and surveillance companies.
▶ 1:14:30This Congress, Senator Cornin and I are leading the Fight China Act, which takes both an entity-based and sensitive technologybased approach to outbound investment restrictions and aligns with President Trump's national security memorandum uh titled America First Investment Policy. Restricting investments into entities and sensitive technologies that threaten the U the US national security means that these investments uh could be redirected elsewhere.
▶ 1:14:56How uh should we use outbound investment restrictions to bring um ACSEAN countries in particular closer to the United States? Redirecting investments that have been going into from the West into China to other uh allies and partners in the Indoacific.
▶ 1:15:17Thank you, Congressman, for that question. Um, as I was just speaking uh with Representative Mouland, um the secretary just returned from KL where he attended the Azan regional forum, the the foreign minister's meeting and um investment and our uh bilateral trade relationships um and uh ways to bring greater prosperity to the region were were very much on uh the list of com of topics that we talked about with in each of our bilateral meetings and
▶ 1:15:47and Azon as a whole um I think this is speaks directly to uh the intention of the reorganization and making sure that our East Asia and Pacific bureau is empowered to have these kind of conversations with our bilateral partners in the region and that our ambassadors who are now even more um also more empowered to use their embassies to engage on these topics um that they'll be able to do so going forward um uh with great oversight over each of these.
▶ 1:16:16I think it's beneficial as we look at outbound investment restrictions in China. This is also a way to bring allies uh in the ACSEAN closer to within our or orbit. Uh I want to follow up with trade. Um you mentioned trade. Critics of this administration's trade policy have argued that it risks alienating our allies and driving them toward Xiinping's so-called charm offensive. But that narrative totally ignores the reality on the ground.
▶ 1:16:43This Indones this announcement of this Indonesia uh trade agreement is a great example of of how the the narrative is is inconsistent with the reality. Under President Trump's leadership, we're witnessing an unprecedented level of engagement, negotiation, and strategic alignment with partners across the Indoacific.
▶ 1:17:02Far from isolating the United States from these partners, this approach is actually reinforcing our economic and security leadership while ensuring that trade deals are fair, reciprocal, and beneficial to the American worker. Can you can you speak to that about how this trade policy is advancing our national security and leading to more not less economic integration with ACSEAN in particular uh with this Indonesia deal?
▶ 1:17:28Thank you, sir, for that question. You took the words right out of my mouth. Uh we've seen multiple trade deals um come through over the past few days. Japan was also announced this morning. The Philippines um following the uh Oval Office meeting between President Marcos and President Trump yesterday. Um you know, trade is u just one tool in the toolbox that that the president has and that we're using this around the world. Um it's not just, you know, trade for trade's sake.
▶ 1:17:55I mean, the president has been very focused on restoring the American economy. Um and this is one way to do that. By focusing on trade, including through the use of tariffs as a as a tool, um the president is able to um correct trade imbalances um reduce deficits um and basically bring the American worker um jobs back to America. But as you said, sir, uh this is another tool of our foreign policy.
▶ 1:18:21Um one one final question about um the South China Sea. Um what uh form of diplomatic engagement um is the is the department using uh to support the department of defense in the strategic prepositioning of def uh defensive assets across the Indopacific theater. We we've heard about the uh draw down of Marines from Okinawa repositioning in Guam. We do have these EDKA sites um in the Philippines. Sub Bay.
▶ 1:18:52When can we get back? When can the Navy get back into SubiC Bay? And what is the State Department doing diplomatically uh to to help the Department of Defense position uh assets for deterrence on a Taiwan scenario?
▶ 1:19:06Thank you, sir, for that question. And on the specific movements, I will refer you to the Department of Defense. But to your question of how we're using diplomacy, um our ambassador to the Philippines has been here uh for the visit to of President Marcos is meeting with President Trump. Um and she detailed um to Secretary Rubio and and myself this week just the work that she's doing to meet with um all representatives.
▶ 1:19:30She has the authority of the president to operate in the Philippines and so she's meeting with all representatives of the Philippine government um to ensure that that diplomacy is taking place. And one final comment, that's been the entire purpose, one of the entire purposes of this reorganization, to make sure our ambassadors are enabled and empowered to do just that.
▶ 1:19:50Thank you very much. My time is expired. Mr. Amo is now recommen recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. uh to our witness. President Trump's actions are sabotaging America's global standing. Illegally shuttering USAD, freezing foreign assistance programs, and haphazardly firing thousands of State Department employees has weakened our leadership on the world stage and damaged our relationship with our allies.
▶ 1:20:20abandoning our partners and putting international agreements under review at the whim of of the administration undermines our credibility and makes our allies less likely to work with us in the future. In June, President Trump announced a review of the Australia United Kingdom United States Security Partnership known as AUS. This review erodess trust with two of our closest allies. It is contrary to the strong bipartisan support for Auckus here in this Congress.
▶ 1:20:51Yesterday, our committee, this very committee, passed uh Representatives Kim and Dean's bipartisan Armor Act, a bill that I am proud to co-sponsor that would streamline the work of Auckus. But despite robust bipartisan support, President Trump is continuing to question our need for Auckus. It makes me wonder why. So, Secretary Hooker, uh, for the this next few questions, please provide, uh, a yes or no answer.
▶ 1:21:19Do you agree that strengthening security and technological cooperation with the United Kingdom and Australia is good for our national security and supports a free and open Indoacific?
▶ 1:21:33I think there's several components to that that difficult to say each one of
▶ 1:21:40Pardon? I said there are different components to that difficult.
▶ 1:21:42Yes or no?
▶ 1:21:45We are cooperating. So yes.
▶ 1:21:47Great. As part of Augustus Pillar One, the Australian government committed to making a $3 billion investment in the US defense industrial base of which the first installment of $500 million arrived in February 2025. Is that true?
▶ 1:22:02I'm not going to get into the specifics of AUS, but both the president and Secretary Rubio have expressed support for AUS. So I'm interested in I'm going to continue to ask you some questions about AUS. So, uh, because the State Department has a role, so you can choose to not answer. Um,
▶ 1:22:18I would I would ask if it is an important thing for to continue to see Australia directly investing in the United States, contributing to our defense industrial base, and supporting good paying jobs across our country.
▶ 1:22:33This should be easier. Great. Thank you.
▶ 1:22:35Yes. It seems very clear that the AUS partnership is essential for our national security and domestic uh defense industrial base. So uh Madam Secretary, are you willing to commit to us right now that the administration will not pull out of August? Can you affirm that we will not reduce our commitments under August?
▶ 1:22:54Sir, that is not within my authority to be able to to do today um for you. But what I can say in response to um your question so far is that both the president and secretary Rubio have expressed support for AAC. So I'd be interested in the quotes that you're um referring to um it saying the president is supporting this and actually it's the department of defense um having an internal review on August. Again that's not my perview to speak about. I welcome
▶ 1:23:24well the state department excuse me the state department does have a role. So don't advocate the responsibility of the state department here because according to public reports it appears that the department of defense is driving the review of AUS without the input from the secretary of state. Shouldn't the state department have input on one of our closest alliances?
▶ 1:23:42The secretary of state has said that if there is any review um that the state department would take place in that. So that is not um I I think we have a different view of the quotes that have been said by our leadership.
▶ 1:23:56Well, look, I I I will tell you this, there is a disconnect here and this is a challenge in the Trump administration because a question for you I have now is did the Department of Defense give the State Department advanced notice when the DoD initiated a review of AUS in June? Is the state department
▶ 1:24:18Sir, thank you for your question. I will reiterate the president and the secretary of state have expressed support for AUS. That's the leadership that I follow.
▶ 1:24:30Okay. So, you agree
▶ 1:24:31to the Department of Defense on on their re any review they might be doing.
▶ 1:24:36Well, my point here is uh you the State Department has a role. you have communicated that you agree with me that this is an important agreement and uh alliance for uh our national security. So I am hoping uh that your words uh are connected to the actions of the president, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense in ensuring that we preserve this essential partnership for our national security and our our priorities to our defense industrial base here and so much
▶ 1:25:06more that is positive from international agreements which have been challenged by this administration.
▶ 1:25:11Gentleman's time back three seconds.
▶ 1:25:14Gentleman's time is expired. The gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Baird, is now recognized.
▶ 1:25:20Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, and uh Madame Under Secretary Hooker, we appreciate you being here. Appreciate the job that you do and and we want to make sure that we have the United States well represented in some of these countries.
▶ 1:25:35But you know, u I really congratulate you on hosting a a version of an African leadership summit and that had the heads of five American nations recently visiting uh the Oval Office and those countries included Gabon, uh Guinea, Bassau, Li Liberia, uh Moritania and Sagal and they focused on trade and investment opportunities.
▶ 1:26:02So, I'm interested in what your takeaway was uh from that that meeting.
▶ 1:26:09Thank you um Congressman for that question. Um we we were very proud of this meeting taking place and I think that um it just demonstrates the commitment um to the African continent that President Trump has himself and that the administration has.
▶ 1:26:24Um the uh in terms of uh the focus um as you said there was focus on trade, there's focus on diplomacy um and increased uh attention being being paid to u not just those countries but to the region as a whole to bring stability, security and prosperity to the African continent and that's that's the goal. Um and this meeting is just one step in the direction of that goal.
▶ 1:26:51So, did you find them receptive to the to the positions you were taking? Because I'm I'm concerned about, you know, our adversaries like China moving into some of these countries. And so,
▶ 1:27:04thank you, sir. Um, for that question. as I said earlier, what we've done with the reorganization is aimed at making sure each of the bureaus um and our ambassadors in the region um have uh everything they need to engage in diplomacy um and commercial diplomacy in the region. And to your specific question, um every diplomatic engagement uh builds on the other.
▶ 1:27:34So we will continue to build and we continue to uh um emphasize the messages that were delivered during those meetings. Um and I expect um there to be great results from that.
▶ 1:27:48So can you add on to to what what the bureau is doing to reshape and ensure that the US remains the number one preferred trading partner in Africa? you know, I'm interested in agriculture and have been involved in agriculture all my life and the commodities that we produce here are uh second to none. So, we've got that quality and we also have the logistic capability to get that anywhere in the world.
▶ 1:28:11Uh so, so I would just be interested in your thoughts about how America stands in these countries that we mentioned as trading partners.
▶ 1:28:22Yes, sir. Well, as you are, I'm sure very well aware, uh, President Trump is extraordinarily focused on trade. Um, not just for our diplomatic engagements for, but for the benefit of the American voter and taxpayer.
▶ 1:28:37Um, so trade will be part of any conversation that we have in our individual relationships in Africa and everywhere else around the world as So could you could you share with me uh or share with us what you think the opinion is of those countries for agricultural commodities related to
▶ 1:28:59Um sir I'm not able to discuss the details of of those specific engagements at this time but I'm happy to be in touch with you um as we continue to engage and as results um come from those Well, you know, uh I'm interested I'm interested u I've been interested in where those commodities go. We as a people are very giving and agriculture is also an important part of that.
▶ 1:29:26Those commodities can ends up being fungeible when they get in country and so I'm interested in making sure that that the people we designated those for are actually receiving it. So I would I would appreciate u your response and your idea about how we stand in that
▶ 1:29:44Yes sir. And uh ensuring that um whether it's assistance um or commodities that are being traded um again one of the main uh focus points of our reorganization was making sure there's oversight at at every single turn. So I will be happy to work with you on that.
▶ 1:30:05Thank you. appreciate your response and uh my time's up. I yield back.
▶ 1:30:11Gentleman yields back. Chair recognizes Representative Kum Logger Dove.
▶ 1:30:16Thank you, Mr. Chair and Ranking Member. And thank you, Under Secretary Hooker, for um being here today. So, Miss Hooker, in your nomination hearing, you stated that your priorities as under secretary would be to strengthen our diplomatic workforce, reinforce our relationships with partners, and confront our adversaries with strength and resolve. Is that correct?
▶ 1:30:41Okay, great. Um, so I'd like to focus on how the Trump administration has measured up to those goals in South Asia. Um, so I want to talk about Sri Lanka. Are you familiar with Sri Lanka?
▶ 1:30:53Yes, I'm familiar.
▶ 1:30:54Okay, great. And so I'm sure then you're aware that Sri Lanka's defaulted on its foreign debt in 2022 and owes significant loans to China and China's capitalizing on Sri Lanka's inability to pay that debt by taking over control of key uh infrastructure. Um yes, would you
▶ 1:31:16I'm aware of the circumstances.
▶ 1:31:18Okay, great. So for Sri Lanka to repay its debt and avoid having to give up more strategic assets to the PRC, it needs to reform its economy and boost economic growth. So can you explain how the Trump administration's proposed 30% tariffs on Sri Lanka helps improve the country's economic outlook and its ability to repay its debt? Thank you, Congresswoman, for that question.
▶ 1:31:42you know, President Trump's first priority is the American people and ensuring that our economic uh situation here at home um is improving. Um one tool in his toolbox for doing that, for improving the economy, um for ensuring there's balanced trade or tariffs, right? So, I understand that. So if the priority is the American voter and the taxpayer, I'm Are you saying that President Trump wants the uh American taxpayer to pay higher prices for goods?
▶ 1:32:16Could you explain further?
▶ 1:32:17Well, do you is are you saying that the president wants us to pay more for the goods that we purchase?
▶ 1:32:26I I'm saying that tariffs are a tool in the toolbox when working with our
▶ 1:32:32I understand that. counterparts and other countries.
▶ 1:32:34So yes, so are you committing that there will be a trade agreement reached with Sri Lanka by August 1st?
▶ 1:32:42That um Congresswoman is is up to the government of Sri Lanka and how they negotiate that.
▶ 1:32:49Well, but it's also up to us and I'm raising this because I don't think well I don't know what the president thinks, but I know my constituents in my district don't want to have to pay higher prices. And I also know that last I checked, we're not onshoring or we're not trying to onshore apparel and garment industries. And we know that Sri Lanka is actually, you know, responsible for manufacturing a lot of goods that American businesses sell to American consumers.
▶ 1:33:19And so it would make sense that we are able to keep those relationships with Sri Lanka. And in order for that to continue, they need some kind of support as a partner with us, an economic partner with us, so that they can keep those facilities and allow American businesses to continue to produce goods and sell to American consumers at a good price. So, can you commit to anything as it relates to Sri Lanka and this deal?
▶ 1:33:47Um I for the trade deals I refer you to the commerce department and the USR ambassador Jameson Greer conducting those
▶ 1:33:58But how does the tariffs how do the tariffs improve Sri Lanka's economic
▶ 1:34:06with us for us in partnership with us? thank you for your question. As I mentioned, the tariffs are aimed at balancing trade. That's the president's objective and that's how he's using them. On trade issues, again, I would like to defer you to refer you to my colleagues at the Commerce Department and USR for the details of the reclaiming my time.
▶ 1:34:32I'm asking you these questions because according to your bio, you are the under secretary of state for political affairs. So, you have responsibility jurisdiction over all of the regional bureaus. you should be able to be talking about this from a policy standpoint to say what are the pros and what are the cons. I mean I'm actually curious listening to your testimony about what you are actually responsible
▶ 1:34:54Oh, I'm happy to talk about that.
▶ 1:34:56I don't need you to answer that question, but I do want you to think about it. We also have challenges with the Maldes. PRC is making incredible inroads into that region with the Indian Ocean. Trump one wanted an embassy. Trump too is talking about closing down
▶ 1:35:15I have have to disagree on that point. There is no discussion of closing any embassies or any consulates um abroad.
▶ 1:35:23Uh I don't know where you're getting that information. We've had multiple conversations about the uh administration wanting to close down embassies. I think in strategic regions there should be some discussion and I would think that your role is to actually bring up reasons why we would want to continue to have a presence in strategic regions where in strategic regions where China is making inroads.
▶ 1:35:47Thank you, Congresswoman. Um we we are paying very close attention to that. I can tell you that there are no closures I can tell you authoritatively that there are no closures planned at this moment. Um and it is my job to oversee each of the re regional.
▶ 1:36:01So you're committing you're committing they're not going to close has expired
▶ 1:36:05Thank you Mr. Chair. But I'm glad that the under secretary committed to us not closing down any region any embassies.
▶ 1:36:13So thank you. Can I just chairman? May I finish my sentence
▶ 1:36:17Thank you. Um it's my responsibility to overseas to oversee each of the bureaus um each of the regional bureaus and the bureau for international organizations and yes over all of their foreign policy. But as I said and I just like to state clearly for the specifics of the trade engagements I refer you to the the department of commerce and also USR. Thank you for allowing me to finish my sentence.
▶ 1:36:41Thank you for answering a paradoxical question of uh I want to know what you actually do, but I don't want to hear you answer that question. That to me was an odd statement. Uh Representative Kim is recognized.
▶ 1:36:52Thank you, Chairman Mast. Um thank you for joining us today. Uh I know under President Trump's first administration, you serve as special assistant to the president and also senior director for the Korean Peninsula at the National Security Council. So I think you understand and agree that Korean peninsula remains a focal point of global security.
▶ 1:37:15Uh as you know North Korea's uh continued nuclear ambitions, missile provocations, cyber attacks and human rights abuses, they pose persistent challenges to the US and our uh allied interests. So, can you talk to me about the lessons that you've learned from your time in the first Trump administration that will inform the current administration's approach dealing with North Korea?
▶ 1:37:40Thank you, Congresswoman, and thank you for your attention on this issue. Um, as you may recall, uh, we have uh, worked very closely with our Japanese and South Korean allies um, on North Korean issues, not just them, but others in the region as well.
▶ 1:37:56Um that is a a major lesson learned and take away from the first Trump administration that uh close coordination, close um cooperation with our allies and partners in the region um is really one of the most effective ways we can meet the threat um deter the threat and continue to strategize on a way forward.
▶ 1:38:15Um the president um also very much uh engaged in the Indoacific region um and the North Korean's glowing growing nuclear and missile program remain a concern of ours. Not just that but also their engagement and cooperation with Russia. Um
▶ 1:38:32North Korea has really become a uh uh country with you know nuclear weapons. It is a nuclear state so we have to recognize it as such. It's definitely different than what we've known North Korea to be even 20 30 years ago and especially during the Trump administration's uh first term.
▶ 1:38:50So I hope that we can continue to talk about North Korea in a sense that we need a complete and secure civid a complete verifiable irres irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. So, can you talk to us about how does the America First agenda define or prioritize this objective?
▶ 1:39:13Thank you, Congresswoman, for that question. Um, the president uses all available to tools on each of these problem set issues. Um, so I I won't speak uh in in specific uh details about our um perhaps our future approach to North Korea, but I can assure you that um we're very concerned about the the their nuclear capability uh their missile capability and the threat and the destabil destabilizing effect um that
▶ 1:39:43that can have on the region. Can you then talk about maybe not specifically but some diplomatic or economic strategies under consideration such as uh like America first opportunity fund to move closer to reaching that goal.
▶ 1:39:59Thank you Congresswoman for that for your question. Um the America First Opportunities Fund uh will be um we'll be able to use that for a number of different uh issues. It'll be a consolidated fund that whether we're using it for foreign assistance, um disaster, uh assistance, um really it's going to be a very flexible and multi-purpose fund, there may be opportunities to use it on this issue.
▶ 1:40:24what about when you talk about uh areas? Can you also allocate that fund for other activities to counter North Korea's illicit activities and support defector communities or expose human rights violations? Those are really important policy priorities of mine as well as to this community as well.
▶ 1:40:46Well, very much paying attention to those to those issues as well and can take in that into consideration when we're looking at applying the fund going
▶ 1:40:55Thanks. You know, as I understand, you as the under secretary for political affairs, you oversee the department's six regional bureaus covering virtually all foreign policy matters that is considered by the state department. And at times the under secretary will elevate a high-profile issue from a regional assistant secretary and lead on the matter directly.
▶ 1:41:17So I think this what this happened under President Bush and your predecessor Ambassador Nick Burns led on Iran policy for the department. So do you intend to similarly lead on China policy during your tenure and talk about what that might look like.
▶ 1:41:35Right. Thank you ma'am. Well I'd just like to reiterate I serve at the pleasure of the president and also the pleasure of the secretary. Um I work very closely with Secretary Rubio and with Deputy Secretary Landau um on issues that span around the world. Um so don't I really don't have anything to say in terms of specific target issues except for that as you noted my responsibilities are global.
▶ 1:42:03Um and I'm here to support the secretary and the deputy secretary as we address each of those issues. Thank you.
▶ 1:42:10Well, thank you. I yield back. Chairman
▶ 1:42:12recognized Representative Jipal.
▶ 1:42:15Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here, Madame Under Secretary. Um, in your confirmation hearing, you stated that China was trying to quote reshape the global order. Um, in your opinion, is it in our national interest to have our American, bilateral, and multilateral relationships overtaken by
▶ 1:42:36I I would disagree with the premise that they are.
▶ 1:42:39I'm just asking you in your opinion. I assume the answer is no. Um that it's not in our interest and I agree with you. Um but in fact that is exactly what the Trump administration is allowing to happen with all the cuts to USID funding. As we slash foreign assistance, China is stepping up its investments in the in the Silk Road for too many countries. It's becoming the only place to turn to backfill previous US investments.
▶ 1:43:06And General Michael Langley, the commander of US Africa command, stated that China is quote trying to replicate specific USAD programs in Africa that the United States has cut and that this trend has been seen globally. Madame Under Secretary, are you aware of how the USAD cuts and Trump's isolationism have have what they've done to America's and China's respective global favorability? Congresswoman, I would disagree with the premise of multiple components of your
▶ 1:43:37Do you know what's happened to US favorability relative to China's
▶ 1:43:41Um, in fact, we've had a great response in some of our uh countries that were providing aid that we're moving from a dependency relation. Do
▶ 1:43:49you have any numbers for me?
▶ 1:43:51See, well, I can tell you that we're continuing our PEPAR uh life.
▶ 1:43:57I'm asking about favorability. Are you aware that in January of 2024, a year before Trump came into office, the US favorability rating was above 20 and China was in negative territory and at the end of May after just five months of the Trump's of Trump coming into office, China had a net favorability of 8.8 compared to negative 1.5 for the United
▶ 1:44:21Were you aware of that?
▶ 1:44:22I am not sure what the sources of your numbers are.
▶ 1:44:25So you're not aware of that?
▶ 1:44:26I'm not aware of the sources of your numbers. Let me read you some statistics about um how your administration's cuts will increase Chinese influence around the globe. Because of these cuts, Chinese investments in assistance programs will now surpass American investments in 40 more countries. China will now operate 16 more diplomatic posts abroad than the United States.
▶ 1:44:50And if the president's budget request is enacted into law and the US fails to pay its UN assessed contributions, China would actually be the biggest contributor to the UN regular budget and UN peacekeeping operations. Is this what making America great again means to you? Seeding America's global leadership in the world to China, at our funding currently, we remain the world's largest donor of aid.
▶ 1:45:19next to the next 10 countries, we are still the
▶ 1:45:22Madam Under Secretary, you may want to um look at those statistics that I sent you and look at what these cuts mean. Um would you agree that Mandarin language skills are a valuable tool for US diplomats working on China and strategic competition issues? It's not a hard question, Madame Under Secretary. I'm still wondering if we're going to be able to respond to some of the other
▶ 1:45:48It's my time, so you are welcome to send me a written response, but I'm asking you about Mandarin language skills.
▶ 1:45:54do you think they're valuable?
▶ 1:45:55We have Mandarin language skills at the Department of State. Yes.
▶ 1:45:59So, you think they're valuable?
▶ 1:46:02And the department just fired over 1300 staff to meet an arbitrary firing target. Do you know what percent of the department's total m Mandarin language capacity was lost in that riff?
▶ 1:46:14Congresswoman, these the reorganization was not arbitrary, nor was it haphazard.
▶ 1:46:21Do you know how many of the department's total Mandarin language capacity was lost in the
▶ 1:46:28I'm aware of that? So, you don't know even how we're staffing our relationship with China, and you're the under secretary of state for political affairs. Can you at least tell me if language skills, in this case, Mandarin, weigh into the department's evaluation of individual staff that were rifted?
▶ 1:46:45Thank you. And thank you, Congresswoman, that question. The Office of China Affairs falls under my purview. And you don't know how many do you know how many people we have that speak Mandarin now?
▶ 1:47:02I'm responsible for the diplomacy that is conducted out of the office.
▶ 1:47:06And you think diplomacy can be done without people that speak the skills
▶ 1:47:08and also the embassy. Um and I have confidence in our training programs at the United at the Department of State.
▶ 1:47:16Sounds like you're not really aware of what skills we have to actually build that relationship.
▶ 1:47:21Time is expired. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I retrieve is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, and, uh, thank you, uh, Secretary Hooker for sharing some time with us this morning. Uh, I represent part of Indiana. And I've been working on a a problem that's, uh, certainly a problem back in my district, back in my state, but more broadly across our country and beyond. And it's a problem that's growing uh, briskly related to scam centers.
▶ 1:47:50these industrial size scam centers, so many of which are anchored in Southeast Asia. Um, uh, you following the COVID crackdowns, uh, some of the bad actors in China pivoted from these illegal casinos and standing up these massive industrial size scam centers. And of course, some of my constituents have been bulked out of money as a consequence of these.
▶ 1:48:11Uh last year uh the reported losses were 125 billion, but these are chronically under reportported because it's embarrassing when when when people are built out of money from these scam centers. Um last month I led on a letter to Secretary Rubio highlighting the need for action before the crisis spirals further out of control and offering the uh our assistance in fighting this.
▶ 1:48:37And I I was uh thankfully joined by 23 other members of this committee in that letter to Secretary Rubio. So it's uh it's got broad recognition that this is a spiraling challenge which should be made more so as AI makes it even harder to discern uh the the real from from the scammy.
▶ 1:48:57Um and so my my question uh of you is simply how how is state uh working to address this transnational crime issue comprehensively.
▶ 1:49:10Thank you Congressman for that question. As I mentioned earlier, Secretary Rubio uh just attended the Azan regional forum um in Koala Lumpur. Um and this issue was a focus point of our conversations with allies and partners in the region and of Azan as a whole.
▶ 1:49:28In fact um his in his conversation with Prime Minister Anoir of um of Malaysia and with other his other bilateral engagements, he spoke specifically about this issue and the need to counter it. Um there's a a consolidated um unified approach um from Azan to deal with this.
▶ 1:49:49So we're going to work bilaterally with the countries where um this is uh an it that where these um kind of scam centers are operating going to work bilaterally with them and also work with Azion to address the issue and very much appreciate your letter and your interest on this subject.
▶ 1:50:05Well, thank you for that. Are there additional statutory authorities that state is looking for uh to uh to put more teeth into the the the toolkit that you've got to work with presently? Um, I think that that's something that we can follow up with you on as we have these conversations and our bilateral relationships to see what else we might
▶ 1:50:25All right. I appreciate that very much. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
▶ 1:50:28Thank you, sir.
▶ 1:50:29Gentleman yields back. Chair recognizes Representative McBride.
▶ 1:50:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Under Secretary Hooker for being here today. I'd like to hone in on Secretary Rubio's decision to decimate the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, or DRL. Most UA USID programs and all but a handful of human rights programs have either ended or reportedly have been transferred to bureaus that lack the experience in this work.
▶ 1:50:54You you just mentioned to Representative Gyipal that the reorganization quote unquote of the State Department was not halfhazard, but you also told ranking member Meeks earlier today as of right now there's no plan for absorbing the work formally done by formerly done by DRL into the regional bureaus. You said a plan is quote in process. That does sound like a half-hazard reorganization to me. Legal requirements for reporting to Congress on democracy and human rights programs have not been relaxed by law.
▶ 1:51:22Yet many of the staff and systems to ensure compliance are gone. So I want to start uh madam under secretary. How many state department staffers and contractors have you all fired that worked in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor?
▶ 1:51:37I don't have that number in front of me right now, Congresswoman. So you don't have the number of folks that were in this bureau that presumably it's work and they have been consolidated under your purview under the bureaus. You don't have a sense of how many remain? From the nature of your question, I think you're interested in understanding whether these functions are continuing in the in the bureaus.
▶ 1:52:03And I can assure you that the functions are continuing in the bureaus, whether it's for DRL, PRM, foreign assistance, um our CT functions as well. Those each of those functions are being integrated into the bureaus of each of the regional bureaus that I am responsible for.
▶ 1:52:22Well, to to that point, if the work is still being done, I I want to hone in then on the uh annual human rights reports, which are of great importance to human rights experts around the world. But going back to 2017, the latest the latest that the country reports on human rights practices was published was April 22nd.
▶ 1:52:48It's now July 23rd and we have yet to see this year's report. Can you explain this delay and when we should expect to see this year's annual required report?
▶ 1:52:59Thank you for that interest. I happy to look into it. I don't have an answer for you at the moment. I'll take that back. Happy to report back. Well, so it doesn't seem like the work of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is moving forward if they're not releasing reports in the same timely fashion that they did previously.
▶ 1:53:19Um, I I want to move on to to ask on this topic and of course these these bureaus absorbing this work and and presumably it's in in some form or fashion moving forward, although not clearly uh as rigorously as it used to. Um, since assuming your position, how many times have you convened regional bureaus to assess or discuss a major human rights challenge or for that matter any human rights
▶ 1:53:44I convene the bureaus weekly to to talk about whatever issues they're facing.
▶ 1:53:49And have you discussed major human rights challenges in those meetings?
▶ 1:53:52I'm I'm not going to talk about the specifics of our conversations um with each of those regional bureaus.
▶ 1:53:59You know, I I I gotta be honest. I appreciate you taking the time, but I just don't know what to make of these actions or quite frankly inactions by the administration. Either this administration is appallingly indifferent to human rights abuses and human trafficking, as we heard last week in Secretary Reg's testimony, or this administration is trying to cover up and paper over the scale of human rights abuses and human trafficking around the world.
▶ 1:54:29And quite frankly, given this administration's efforts to cover up abuses committed by Jeffrey Epstein and other powerful men, it appears that there is a pattern here with this administration. The powerful get to do what they want, whether it's powerful men here or strong men around the world. And this administration will cover for them. And it is deeply disturbing to me. And I hope I hope that these regional bureaus under your leadership and because I I believe that you personally want to do this work.
▶ 1:55:00I hope that this administration will fulfill its legal and moral obligation to report on to investigate and to hold other countries accountable for human rights abuses. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
▶ 1:55:14Representative yields back. I would challenge anybody who has done more to stop trafficking into the United States of America than President Trump. Objectively, any side of the aisle, nobody's done more to stop trafficking than President Trump from the people that were being drugged across the American border. Thank you, President Trump. Chair recognizes Representative
▶ 1:55:35Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Under Secretary Hooker, for being here today. As we evaluate the work that is being done at the US Department of State, it is vital that we understand how the reorganization will impact America's global health programs. I look forward to hearing how the State Department is continuing to implement its global health priorities.
▶ 1:55:57One of the key elements of the reorganization of Department of State has been ensuring that regional bureaus play more influential role in foreign assistance. Can you please clarify how that dynamic interplays with programmatic foreign assistance that requires centralized oversight such as global health programming? Thank you, Congressman, for your question.
▶ 1:56:20Um, as I'm sure you uh heard uh from Deputy Secretary last week as well, um the integration of USID was complete on July 1st um into the department. Um the goal of that was to make sure there is very strong oversight over each of those programs.
▶ 1:56:39Making sure um as well that our as you said our regional bureaus um are able to implement foreign assistance um that makes sense for their area of responsibility. Um the one of the ways that we are ensuring these programs continue those are life- saving saving programs. Those are programs that are tailored um to each of the region's needs and each of the region's um objectives.
▶ 1:57:04One way we're doing that um is bringing on 400 US staff um into the department into the regional bureaus to implement those programs. Um about 300 of them are coming from USAD. Others are US direct hires. um also overseas and our embassies we're um adding another 400 locally employed staff to um operate and conduct and perform these programs as well.
▶ 1:57:32So um the effort there is to make sure that the bureaus not only um have the direct political oversight over each of the programs but that they have the staff that are capable capable of um conducting those programs as well. And and as a follow-up to that, are the regional bureaus empowered to raise concerns such as health commodity stockouts or rising health security threats when they were made aware of such concerns?
▶ 1:57:59Um, yes. And again, a major objective of this reorganization is to make sure the bureaus, the bureau leadership um are empowered, but also our ambassadors and our embassies overseas um are are empowered to address those issues as well. And could you share how the regional bureaus are structured so that they can coordinate with the other bureaus at the state department that side uh reside outside of the P family?
▶ 1:58:25Oh um yes uh happy to to talk about that a little bit. Um I should also say that each of the just back on foreign assistance um for one moment uh each of these bureaus will be formulating a foreign assistance office within the bureau that will be um focused on implementing those things. at uh implementing those programs.
▶ 1:58:48But um to your point to your question about how functional offices will uh operate with regionals um as you know there are uh additional under secretaries that are meant to be in place. Um and uh our hope is that they the the ones that have been nominated um and have been voted out of committee will be confirmed soon so that um I can work with uh with my colleagues um at the under secretary level.
▶ 1:59:17But I am working already with um the senior bureau leadership um in in the department and also the acting under secretaries for um arms control for economic affairs. Um there our structure is such that we can have lateral engagement. Um we don't have to just talk at the top as under secretaries but each of these uh functional offices has re regular engagement with their regional bureau colleagues and
▶ 1:59:42and so how will this overall new structure of regional bureaus Mike is following up on that answer a little bit. Okay.
▶ 1:59:48Uh ensure greater efficiency at the state department.
▶ 1:59:52Thank you Congressman. Um, one of the main objectives of this reorganization was to eliminate the redundancies. Um, and and that's meant to make it more efficient. Of course, if you have um let's just say you have a policy paper um that needs to be coordinated within within the department. Um, if it's having to be cleared by multiple offices with the same with similar functions, it's going to hold up uh the process of clearance.
▶ 2:00:22maybe that policy doesn't get in implemented um in in a a time that makes it relevant to what's happening. You you just have a a a slowing down of the overall policy process. So, by eliminating those um redundant offices, we're able to streamline the policy process, make sure the bureaus are able to implement and um as well as our embassies overseas.
▶ 2:00:45Thank you for being here today and I yield back my time.
▶ 2:00:49Thank you, sir. Thank you, chair. Now recognizes Representative Johnson.
▶ 2:01:00Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Um, Madame Under Secretary, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, I was glad to hear uh Deputy Deputy Secretary Riggus in his testimony last week affirm the importance of keeping our commitment to our Afghan allies.
▶ 2:01:16Uh they are these are family members of Afghan-American US military personnel, children cleared to reunite with their parents, relatives of Afghans have already admitted um and tens of thousands of Afghans who have worked for the United States government during the 20-year war who were promised the pathway and fully vetted but now are stranded and waiting. But the department's fiscical year 2026 budget did not include funding to continue operation enduring welcome.
▶ 2:01:45the whole of government relocation effort and the State Department reorganization abolishes the offices that were going to do this work. And the administration has ended temporary protected status for Afghans, putting these brave individuals at risk of being sent back as sitting ducks uh for the Taliban to target. They face retribution for believing in America's promise and something better. But many of the Afghan allies who were able to make it here to the United States still cannot feel safe.
▶ 2:02:14In fact, I have a constituent who was an Afghan ally now detained by ICE with no given reason and sent to another state. So my question, ma'am, is what is the State Department doing to work with the Department of Homeland Security to make sure that DHS does not swoop in and steal our Afghan allies who are here
▶ 2:02:34Thank you, Congresswoman, for that question. And and I will defer you to DHS for those specific cases um and how they're how they're working. um on those issues. What I can tell you is that um the administration cares very deeply about our Afghan um our Afghan former colleagues and those who have were committed to helping the United States uh in Afghanistan.
▶ 2:02:59Um as as you noted um there have been quite a number of Afghanistans who have been resettled Afghans who have been resettled in the United States. Um there were there have been a 400,000 who have been resettled in the US uh since 2021. Um we're continuing but but the State Department is revoking their protective status and so you know what are we going to do to help those folks?
▶ 2:03:24Um that's my question is why are we doing this and has the department the state department assessed whether Afghans who were connected to the US mission or the former Afghan government are at greater risk of retaliation once they return to
▶ 2:03:39Um thank you Congresswoman for that question. The vetting process um for bringing Afghans here to the United States uh is we take that as a very serious issue. every visa that we have um that we have provided, it's a national security decision. Um so just you raised earlier the vetting process. Um and so we're we're taking that into uh we're very serious about um about that process.
▶ 2:04:06We've seen failures of our vetting process um produced almost catastrophic results. There was a a situation last fall where someone who had been mitt admitted to the United States um had been planning a terrorist attack in uh in Oklahoma City. Fortunately, that was thwarted. Um but it just highlights just how um serious that each of these visa conversations
▶ 2:04:29I understand that m but that doesn't imply that one bad apple spoils the bunch. You know, there's always um uh criminal threats from every sector of every society and every country, every race, every everything. And it's we have the best law enforcement in the world to be able to assess out those threats, but that doesn't mean that you retaliate um and punish all those who are here, who are doing good, who put their lives on the line.
▶ 2:04:54Um I'm also concerned that, you know, now that administration has terminated all of our assistance to Afghanistan, our remaining leverage comes from the world standing united against recognizing the Taliban as a legitimate government. But on July 3rd, Russia became the first country to full fully diplomatically recognize the Taliban. Did the administration take any action to punish Russia for this outrageous move?
▶ 2:05:21Thank you, Congresswoman. I I do have to say that um the United States has not terminated all of its assistance to Afghanistan. our the office formerly known as care. All of those functions continue um as we've talked about today um under the oversight and direction of our regional bureau responsible which is the south and central Asia bureau um in the department of state.
▶ 2:05:47So all those functions with regard to assistance uh to Afghanistan and to um uh two Afghans that remain in the region um all of that continues. I just want to be be clear on that point.
▶ 2:06:00Thank you, ma'am. Unfortunately, I'm out of time.
▶ 2:06:02I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:06:04Representative yields back. Representative Heisenga is recognized.
▶ 2:06:09Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. Um, uh, Under Secretary Hooker. Earlier this year, Secretary Rubio engaged the Central African nations over their treatment of US oil and gas companies. The uh Bank of Central Africa states continues to hold a very hostile view of how restoration funds uh are managed. Uh these environmental restoration funds paid for by American companies should not be rated to shore up monetary reserves in Central Africa.
▶ 2:06:39According to the IMF's balance of payments and international investment position manual, these restoration funds by definition cannot be used for foreign exchange reserves. In an effort to protect American investment in the region, I introduced the Central African Exploitation and Manipulation of American companies or SEMAC Act instructing the United States to oppose any effort by the IMF related to the to the SEMAC countries until the IMF issues guidance regarding the status of American
▶ 2:07:10companies restoration funds being held in escrow. Uh, will you commit to working uh with the Department of Treasury to support the US Industries proposal and report back to me on the
▶ 2:07:21Thank you, Congressman, for that question. Um, I am not familiar with that issue. So, I am happy to take that back and consult with Treasury and work with you on that issue.
▶ 2:07:29Are you aware of any of those issues in in the with the central bank?
▶ 2:07:34I am to be honest with you, I am not aware of those specific issues, but I will take that um back. I will become very aware of it and make sure I get back we get okay to work with you on
▶ 2:07:44Please do. Um all right and uh as chairman of the newly created South and Central Asia subcommittee it's not a newly well I guess it sort of was a newly created we had we had uh we decided to follow the uh the state department's delineations on those things.
▶ 2:08:01Uh but as chair of that South and Central Asia subcommittee, I've been actively engaged in dialogues with regional partners on China's rapid expansion of port access through its maritime belt and road initiative, especially in the Indian Ocean, which is central to global trade and home to essential choke points. Uh I'm also aware of the string of pearls strategy in which the CCP is attempting to encircle India through a network of military and commercial facilities extending from mainland China to the Horn of Africa.
▶ 2:08:31Uh what actions has the department taken to counter the belt and road initiative in the region and and cement US and allied dominance in the Indian Ocean?
▶ 2:08:42Thank you Congressman for that question. I'd like to highlight the the work of Secretary Rubio. Um just speaking of India for a moment. Um highlight the work of Secretary Rubio um is working with the Quad which is India. I'm sure you're familiar with that. Um the Quad uh Japan, India and Australia.
▶ 2:09:04um he had hosted two of these um gatherings at the Department of State here in Washington even including on his very first day in the job um
▶ 2:09:16which by the way was a great statement. Uh we we recently uh uh chair young Kim and I uh hosted the ambassadors recently and uh it was it's been a very good statement I think of of solidarity. So
▶ 2:09:29great. Um and so on July 1st we had another one of those meetings at the department and I just mentioned that because um the quad is a key forum for um countering uh China's efforts in the region whether um whether in the Indoacific in general but also specifically to the areas that you've mentioned um we have just again just to focus on the Quad for a moment because of its great importance um the efforts under Secretary Rubio uh to streamline um and
▶ 2:09:59and really highlight specific areas of cooperation um where we can as coordinate nations um cooperate on issues that that touch on um China mainly I I think the in addition to ports issues uh supply chain issues which I'm sure you're also very aware of um these have been highlighted as as areas where we can cooperate together um in addition to the kinds of things you've mentioned
▶ 2:10:25great and and in my final 45 seconds here I want quickly get to this and we may need to get this in in writing from you as well. Uh but obviously Central Asia holds vast reserves of critical minerals and is key um to to the world supply of that. Just yesterday I sat down with the first deputy chairman of the Yuzbeki Senate uh where we discussed their copper copper deposits in Usbekiststan and and their desire to work with the Trump administration to realize some profits in that.
▶ 2:10:53Um obviously copper is extremely important in so many various uh uh whether it's AI and and defense uh electric grid but how is the department engaging with central Asian countries to secure nonPRC supply chains and what measures are being taken to ensure that the United States remains a partner of choice even in nations receiving significant Chinese investment
▶ 2:11:19I I know we're out of time on on that but um and happy to follow up with you in greater gater detail, but we are very much engaged with our um Central Asia partners. Um and not just them um supply chain uh diversifying supply chain, securing supply chains is a as you know a huge priority for the president and for Secretary Rubio. We're doing it in in all regions around the world. Happy to follow up with you.
▶ 2:11:43I look I look forward to those follow-ups. Thank you, sir. I yield
▶ 2:11:47Recognize Representative Titus.
▶ 2:11:49Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madam Secretary. Uh just to change the direction a little bit, I would like to talk about what's happening in the uh Eastern Mediterranean. I sent a letter to the president with 21 of my colleagues just recently about a meeting between President Trump and President Erdogon. This came was he was having a number of phone calls and we anticipated a meeting.
▶ 2:12:15I wanted to ask the pre or we wanted to ask the president to bring up certain topics that are important both with our relations to Turkey and with Turkeykey's relations to Greece and other countries in the area whether it's the missile incursions or it's the um airspace or the water rights or the um F35s all of those things we wanted to hear about.
▶ 2:12:40uh we got a letter back but uh after there was a meeting and it was just kind of pablum. It was just boilerplate. I have the letter that we sent. I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter it into the record, Mr. Chairman, so you can see more detail about what we were asking about. So we sent the letter, we got back some boilerplate answer that didn't really answer anything. Wasn't worth the paper it was written on. And then we find out that a meeting did take place.
▶ 2:13:09that was on the sidelines of the NATO summit that it finally happened after the phone calls and so we reached out to the State Department asking for a briefing about what occurred because there was no readout and we didn't know what went on in that meeting except we heard something from Erdiggon's office saying everything was great and there was positive movement on the F-35s. So we didn't get any information back from the department. You circumvented our attempts to do oversight.
▶ 2:13:38Meanwhile, the president's saying this the most transparent administration you've ever seen. So now I'm fortunate to have you here before us. So maybe we can get an answer. I'd like to ask you what happened at that meeting between the president and president Erdigon.
▶ 2:13:54Thank you, Congresswoman. Um and uh thank you for your letter. Um I have not seen your letter, but I look forward to seeing it since it's been uh put into the record. Um I I am not able to speak to the specifics of what was spoken at those meetings. As you know those meetings are um our bilateral engagements are uh the very specific issues um are confidential.
▶ 2:14:19Um but I can say our tur our policy um on the F-35 program um on on Turkey uh and that issue have not changed as long as the as long as Turkey has their S400 program. we're not able to move forward with the F-35 program.
▶ 2:14:36Well, that part's reassuring. So, uh, that's one of the things we addressed, but if you'll look at that letter and maybe get back to us on some of the other things that we're concerned about because Turkey is not a very reliable ally in a number of areas and this is such a an important geopolitical area right now with Israel, with Cyprus, with Greece, with Turkey that we I think we need to be more informed about it. you're in office as well. Uh, I want to go back to the riff issue too.
▶ 2:15:05I I wonder, you know, you mentioned that maybe some mistakes were made with the riffing and did y'all do a written analysis uh showing that the people who were dismissed were indeed the lowest performers, that there was some reason that these people were chosen. And if you did do an analysis, can you share it with us? And if you didn't, how how'd you pick these people that you just gave the axe to?
▶ 2:15:29Congresswoman, thank you for your question. I don't um I don't think I said that I thought mistakes were made. I just want to clarify for the record. You the beginning of your your statement there. Um I haven't I didn't say that mistakes were made in and the uh reduction in force.
▶ 2:15:45So you don't think any mistakes were
▶ 2:15:47You but you you said that I had
▶ 2:15:49I guess maybe I should have been more precise. That was the implication I got. Maybe maybe you didn't maybe you don't think any mistakes were made and if you don't can you tell us how you made those
▶ 2:16:00Um I thank you congresswoman for that question. Um the reduction in force effort uh I think sec secretary deputy secretary rigus went through in great detail last week and and the process that was conducted to make those determinations.
▶ 2:16:17Um there was consultation taken both at the um at senior levels and at the workforce levels where comments were provided from um and I think deputy secretary rigus mentioned the number 650 around 650 comments that were provided to state
▶ 2:16:38Okay. Well you so you have some rational now so maybe we could see that rationale so we can explain to these people why they got fired. There's some were some expectant mothers in this group, some families that were just just got the ask just overnight, how are they getting home and how how's their health insurance covering them for these babies that they're expecting to have that they weren't anticipating just being laid off suddenly? Did you take that into
▶ 2:17:04Thank you, Congressman, for your follow-up question. As as I said and as Deputy Secretary Ria said, the determinations that were made on the closures of offices and the the resulting reduction in force um cuts that were made. Uh that was to eliminate redundancies and to streamline processes and the state department. It was not a personal matter.
▶ 2:17:31It was removal of redundant functions.
▶ 2:17:35Women in any kind of soft landing.
▶ 2:17:37Gentle lady's time has expired.
▶ 2:17:39Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 2:17:41Chair recognizes Representative Thank you, Chairman. And I thank you um earlier for pushing back on uh the nonsensical idea that the Trump administration has somehow been soft on human trafficking and rightly pointing out that the border is now closed and secure. We know the biggest human traffickers in the world were the cartels. They were making over$1 13 billion dollars a year trafficking people across our southern border and flooding our country with people who were illegally here.
▶ 2:18:11They were massively exploited along the way and potentially some of that exploitation is still going on. And I'm encouraged by the efforts at all levels to shut that down. So with that, Secretary Hooker, thank you so much for your testimony today and your service in our State Department. I'd like to thank you and Secretary Rubio for your hard work in reorganizing the State Department so that we could put America's interests first with America's resources. So, thank you.
▶ 2:18:39Um, the reorganization of the Political Affairs Bureau is an important reform prioritizing regionable experts with on the ground knowledge and relationships to lead State Department policy. Um, it never made sense to allow anti-growth climate change activists and the environmental bureau to run policy.
▶ 2:18:58I've heard from uh people around the world who felt like they're putting ideology ahead of interest between our country and other countries as they wanted to have bilateral relations that were focused on real issues. we saw in whether it was environmental policy or social agendas like LGBTQ plus uh that the administration had a different agenda than just listening and building relationships. So um let me turn to Greenland.
▶ 2:19:27Uh I'm proud to be the founding chairman of the Congressional Greenland Caucus earlier this year. Arctic security is critical for our national security and ensuring that we keep Russia and China uh in their place as we confront a not just Arctic security but Arctic opportunities and I'm glad there were components of the big beautiful bill that advanced that. Um could you elaborate on how uh the State Department's working uh to address that issue?
▶ 2:19:57Thank you, Congressman, for your question and and for your comments as well. Um, you've hit on a number of issues that are great importance to this administration, whether it's supply chain or our um security in the Arctic. All of those issues are um can be found central and in in Greenland. And our engagement with Denmark continues. as you know, we have um we have a base there in in Greenland which keeps us very tied to it.
▶ 2:20:26So um I guess the the most the the best thing I can say about it is that we're paying close attention to this issue. Um our Bureau of European Affairs um has under its responsibility Greenland and we'll continue to to work this issue um going forward for the
▶ 2:20:43Thank you so much. And I'd love to build an interface there with the State Department to specifically talk about Greenland issues. uh both with the people of Greenland and with um you know folks of Denmark and if we could uh arrange uh travel there just to build rapport and relationships would have a uh a congressional uh delegation that would love to participate with the state department in strengthening our ties.
▶ 2:21:06um as the chairman of national security and elicit finance uh every day we have malign foreign actors and representative Shrieve highlighted you know one of those issues uh where you're seeing transnational criminal organizations exploit our seniors um and you know thank you for highlighting the response there um do you have any thoughts on how the financial services lane and using all the tools whether it's OFAC or things that are in Treasury could work with the state department to provide additional leverage in your
▶ 2:21:37Thank you, Congressman. Um, I think we have to keep all of our tools um on the table, so to speak. We have to use all available tools and dealing dealing with these issues. So, as we go forward, if there is a need to to work with you um more closely on that, we're very much interested in doing so.
▶ 2:21:54Thank you for that. And then lastly, I just talk about, you know, Vice President Vance really spoke to, I mean, he's from my congressional district. And frankly, if my constituents could have been in Munich, Germany, they might have not said it as eloquently, but we're concerned what exactly are we defending when you look at people who are having to flee the United Kingdom, flee Germany, even Poland for uh asylum in Hungary, where they're defending civil liberties in Hungary.
▶ 2:22:20Um, how are you working in the State Department to make sure that the values that we share that defined our alliances are actually still represented in our alliances?
▶ 2:22:31Thank you, Congressman. I mean, I don't I don't think I have to say that the US the United States considers freedom of expression to be foundational component of our um of our functioning democracy. Um and so this will can be part of our diplomatic engagement with these countries that you just mentioned.
▶ 2:22:49Um that we continue to stand for um the very freedoms that we hold dear and um with our fellow democracies around the world ensure that um they continue to see this as a as a value and that we're emphasizing it.
▶ 2:23:02Thank you so much. My time's expired and I yield back. Representative Castro.
▶ 2:23:06Uh thank you.
▶ 2:23:07Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Under Secretary, for your testimony and for being here today. U what's happening in Gaza is a horror of mass starvation, mass murder, and even a plan for ethnic cleansing that Americans are helping to pay for.
▶ 2:23:25Every day brings us fresh horrors of starving children, in fact, some of them starving to the bone, civilians killed by snipers while they seek out food, and entire families wiped out by the IDF. And as I mentioned and as you know, Americans are helping to pay for I wanted to ask you what the Trump administration's plan is to stop it.
▶ 2:23:51As we as we and the world witnesses these horrors, what is your plan to stop
▶ 2:23:57Representative Castro, thank you um for your question and uh for allowing me to respond. Um, when we talk about Israel Gaza, I I I think it's important to remember two specific things. First, this situation started on October 7th when Hamas invaded Israel and kar killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, in the most heinous and barbaric ways.
▶ 2:24:24Um, second, I think we should also emphasize that Hamas could end this conflict today. Um, it could put down their arms. They could return the
▶ 2:24:34Certainly, you're not suggesting, hold on, I'm gonna reclaim my time for a second. You're not suggesting that those five and six year old kids have any control over what Hamas does, are you?
▶ 2:24:44In fact, those folks in that, the people who make up Hamas, many of them are hidden away in tunnels or out of Gaza and are not the ones who are being subjected to these bombs and missiles and starvation and so forth. What I was going to say, Congressman, was that we mourn the loss of any civilian life, whether that's Israeli, Palestinian, whomever, and that's why we're focused on achieving a ceasefire. It's the laser focus of President Trump and of this
▶ 2:25:13under secretary, I guess I want to tell you just for a second. And I want to tell you when uh Anthony Blinkin sat where you're sitting in December, I believe, uh I told him that I was disappointed with how the Biden administration uh approached this. And that we didn't do enough during that time to stop these horrors. And I will say the same thing to you as part of the Trump administration that our government is not doing enough.
▶ 2:25:39We have all on this dice called out Hamas for the horrors of October 7th. Uh we have labeled them even before this as terrorists and penalize nations or anyone who has associated with them. But what actions have we taken against Benjamin Netanyahu's government for the horrors that they've committed? Where are the consequences for their
▶ 2:26:04What Thank you, Congressman. What I was going to say was that um we're very focused on achieving a ceasefire and delivering humanitarian assistance. As you may be aware, and I think there was some press reporting overnight that special envoy Witkoff is um going to be leading the engagement. He's headed to the region right now to work to finalize um the aid corridor and reach a ceasefire. Um so to you you asked what we're doing, that's that's one of the things we're doing is is special envoy WhitF will be traveling to the region to work on this issue.
▶ 2:26:34Let me let me raise another issue with you. Uh because Israeli settlers in the West Bank attacked the Palestinian Christian village of Taibbe, setting fire to a cemetery and a fifth century church. US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabe, who's been a very strong supporter of Israel, called the attack quote an act of terror and that they should be quote found and prosecuted, not just reprimanded unquote.
▶ 2:26:58He similarly described the lynching of Palestinian-American from Tampa, Florida, Sephola Musullet by Israeli settlers in the West Bank as quote a criminal and terrorist act. That's two acts of terrorism within weeks by the same group of people, Israeli settlers in the West Bank. I want to ask you, will the United States be pursuing independent investigations into these terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers?
▶ 2:27:24Thank you, Congressman. Um, I understand that the IDF is is investigating incidents that
▶ 2:27:29will the United States government launch an investigation into these attacks
▶ 2:27:33and as I said, special envoy WhitF is traveling to the region and it's very much in President Trump's interests and his objective to reach stability in the region. Um, he's working on ceasefires.
▶ 2:27:44Will you guys commit to an independent United States investigation into these
▶ 2:27:49Thank you for asking that question. Um, I don't have an answer for you at this moment, but I've provided you with an answer to your question on what we've been doing on this issue and how we're working towards a ceasefire.
▶ 2:28:07I yield back.
▶ 2:28:08Thank you.
▶ 2:28:10Gentleman yields back. Representative Perry is recognized.
▶ 2:28:13Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Hooker over here. Sorry about that. The State Department's 75,000 employees, including 13,000 foreign service officers and 11,000 civil service staff, cost taxpayers over $16 billion annually in salaries and benefits. Yet, evidence suggests that many of the employees advocate socialist or communist ideologies that clash with American values or certainly any oath that any of the employees might take.
▶ 2:28:42A 2024 whistleblower report from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs revealed diplomats praising collectivist policies in meeting with EU counterparts undermining undermining our free market stance. Are we going to continue funding a diplomatic core that seems more aligned with Marx than Madison? And I'm serious about like what is the plan Does does the department even recognize this as an issue?
▶ 2:29:09And I'm not talking about restricting the exercise of free thought or free speech, but if we're going to have people in our State Department advocating for the policies and beliefs of our adversaries, I think that's problematic. So, that's a serious question to you.
▶ 2:29:27Thank you, Congressman, for your for your question. Um I'm just going to refer to the reorg for a moment, but it's in it's in line with answering your question and and that is as I've said the reorganization is meant to bring um the power over foreign policy back into the bureaus but underneath um senior bureau leadership that is aligned with this administration.
▶ 2:29:54Um, and so under the leadership under of not just myself, but the heads of those bureaus, um, and of course, Secretary Rubio, um, I'm confident that we'll be able to, um, operate as a democracy, um, and operate on, uh, these foreign policy objectives that the president has laid out
▶ 2:30:14and I appreciate that. And again, we're we're not asking to for feelalty to an individual, but I think many of us are frustrated over time with the State Department that seems to be antithetical to the values of the of the country and the citizens it supports.
▶ 2:30:29And you know, as as an example here, the department's 2022 equity action plan costing $12 million last year projected at $15 million for FY26 promotes DEI initiatives that pri prioritize identity over merit, mirroring socialist frameworks.
▶ 2:30:48Uh a 2023 internal survey showed 62% of foreign service officers supported policies like wealth taxes or nationalized industries that are those ideas are just rejected by by Americans. And furthermore, let's see here. Um here's a true story.
▶ 2:31:08In 2024, a whistleblower in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor revealed a click of employees circulating a petition to soften sanctions on Cuba, citing humanitarian concerns while ignoring Havana's repression. The petition signed by 22 staff members was exposed by a Freedom of Information Act request. Uh, again, we just prefer people that are loyal to the United States of America.
▶ 2:31:32I mean, Anna Montes is is cooling her heels in a prison um for being the most prolific operative working inside the United States of America yet promoting Cuban uh communist policies. We simply can't have that.
▶ 2:31:48So, I understand there's a reorganization going on, but if you can elucidate for us uh any of the policies in that reorganization that would kind of get a gauge on loyalty to the loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America? For instance, do employees take an oath um regarding their loyalty to the Constitution of the United States of America? Each employee of the Department of State takes an oath when they begin their service to the Constitution.
▶ 2:32:19I did too when I started on on June the same.
▶ 2:32:22And so if employees uh of the State Department then advocate for the Communist Party of Cuba, is that seen as a violation or will that be seen moving forward as a violation of that oath?
▶ 2:32:37Thank you, Congressman, for that question. Um I I work every day with um absolutely uh fabulous uh colleagues in the Department of State, foreign service, civil service, um other other staff um in the department. And I I appreciate your concerns and thank you for highlighting um each of those issues. Um I I will, you know, work with my colleagues in the management bureau um to see how we might be able to address this if it if it arises a problem.
▶ 2:33:08Yeah, I appreciate your time and I don't mean to cut you off, but I just want to close here before the chairman has to cut me off. Um, we need a state department that works in concert with the views of the Constitution of the United States of America and and moves that agenda, the agenda of America forward abroad. And we can't have employees, whether they're convicted of of sedition or treason like Anna Montes was, or whether they just expressing antithetical positions that help our enemies.
▶ 2:33:37We can't have them uh being the and the uh policy makers for the United States of America. And there's got to be some repercussions for those kind of things in the Department of State. With that, I yield the balance.
▶ 2:33:51Gentleman yields back. Representative Sher Phelis McCormack is recognized.
▶ 2:33:55Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Under Secretary, for being here. Um quite frequently we hear um our House Republicans talk about this policy of putting America first, America's interest first. Um, but I'm failing to see real processes and thoughtout procedures to implement to achieve this goal. So, I'm hoping that today you'll give us some insight as far as the strategy and policies on how we can get there.
▶ 2:34:18And I'm hoping that these strategies and policies would actually have within it some mitigation procedures, um, any corrective actions, but really having the implementation by experts since we have so many people who are being fired. We want to make sure that experts are at that table. And so, I can't wait for you to shed light on this. So, um, these won't just be slogans of putting America's interest first, but we'll see tangible acquisition or actually getting to that. So, I want to shift our attention to Haiti and find out what is the strategy with Haiti.
▶ 2:34:51Thank you, Congressman, for for your questions. um with the empowerment of each of the re regional bureaus. I just trying to edit what I've repeated and what you've heard me said about the reorganization. You you've heard me say how it's empowered each of the regional bureaus and our embassies overseas. What that does is it each bureau and their area of responsibility.
▶ 2:35:18Specifically, I wanted to hear about Haiti because Haiti is a um a unique situation, especially in the region, and right now the Office of Haitian Affairs is eliminated. So, I wanted to hear what is the strategy behind eliminating it, especially since it's such a huge crisis for the entire Western Hemisphere and there is a significant amount of guns which are coming from the United States into Haiti and drugs that are going throughout the entire Caribbean.
▶ 2:35:44So, it seems to me that eliminating the Office of Haitian Affairs would be contrary to the goal of actually containing and controlling um this region. So, what is the strategy behind eliminating it in this climate?
▶ 2:35:59I apologize, Congresswoman. I I misunderstood the end of your question. Um I apologize for that. The uh the Bureau Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs is responsible for Haiti. So it's not that our focus on Haiti has changed. We are assure you very focused on Haiti.
▶ 2:36:18Haiti had an office of Haitian affairs specifically because of the uniqueness of what's going on in Haiti. Right now Haiti is in crisis mode and in this crisis mode what we're finding is that you guys are eliminating the office and the elimination of the office seems contrary to what is needed at this present moment. So could you please expand on what is the strategy for success in Haiti in its crisis situation which is so close to South Florida which is actually affecting the United States every single day. What is the strategy
▶ 2:36:48so the elimination of the office of Haiti affairs does not mean that the function of overseeing haiti issues has been eliminated. Um the department secretary Rubio has assigned Ambassador Henry Worster to who is now charged affairs in Haiti to evaluate um uh the situation in Haiti and in a whole of government approach. And so that's the strate I'm sorry
▶ 2:37:15in place before it was just eliminate it and then think through it and create a strategy because you're saying he's going to be analyzing it but there was no current strategy before implementation. He
▶ 2:37:25he has analyzed it. been working on this issue for the past
▶ 2:37:29for the past month. The strategy was to continue to work on Haiti affairs with the with the Bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs um focused on Haiti and Ambassador Worcester has been assigned um to work as in a whole of government approach on the
▶ 2:37:46closing of the actual um of that office. Will the personnel be shifting also? Will it be h will it have the same attention, same personnel, the experts?
▶ 2:37:56It has the same attention for sure. The functions of the office of Haiti affairs have been absorbed into the full bureau and these fun functions are continuing.
▶ 2:38:06So why close that office and leave other offices such as the office on Cuba? Why close this office and have it absorbed into Western Hemisphere? The Western Hemisphere, most of those countries aren't having the same issues and that's why traditionally has its own office. Why do that?
▶ 2:38:25All of these functions are being covered. Um, I can assure you of that. I mean, that's that's the purpose. There were redundancies
▶ 2:38:33Um, my time's running out and I thank you so much for being here today, but I'm afraid that I hear a lot about um making America's priorities first, but as I said, it's looking more and more like a slogan because we're not seeing real policies, real strategy, real implementation. We're seeing these haphazard ideas of closing the Haitian Affairs Office when right now we so desperately need the attention for that office. I'm not hearing about the personnel, the experts who will be continuing the work that is done in Haiti.
▶ 2:39:01I'm hearing more about well, we just closed or eliminated the office and now we're going to analyze to make sure we have everything going forward. That forethought should have been there in the beginning so we can guarantee that we won't see any kind of issues. But what we've been seeing consistently have been issue after issue, lack of forethought, lack of experts, lack of mitigation processes when they do find an issue, and also lack of corrective off um corrective actions.
▶ 2:39:28So going forward, I would love to be able to work with the administration so we can put these procedures in place so we can actually attain that reality of having policies that strengthen the United States while edifying our allies. Thank you, and I yield back. I don't think you had much time to yield back, but thank you for relinquishing the microphone. I'm now going to recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. In my opening remarks, I use the term outcome a couple times.
▶ 2:39:56And I think that's one of the most important things to recognize about what's been lacking with the State Department and what needs to be the focus of the State Department. State Department is not a think tank. It's not all it's also not the Department of Defense. We don't have uh people in uniforms in the same way.
▶ 2:40:12Uh but it is lacking some of the important things that the department of defense has as I mentioned uh a very clear hierarchy a very clear structure uh that that people follow in the same way that has been lacking in the state department and I believe the the measurable outcomes again have been lacking in the same way. I want to start by giving you a chance in part to respond to a few things because there's been accusations made uh about somehow there's a lack of outcomes because of uh the the actions taken by the Trump administration.
▶ 2:40:43And so my colleague said uh the State Department was not properly resourced. Now I know you were in the State Department uh previously in your career as well. Uh the budget's grown by about $45 billion over the last 25 years. So when we're talking about outcomes, has the State Department been $45 billion more effective over that time?
▶ 2:41:08I don't believe so, sir.
▶ 2:41:10I think that's a plain way to put it. I don't believe so either. And I think objectively I'd be hardressed to find somebody that could say that it has been. uh the State Department had added between 2007 and 2024 additional jobs in that window of time.
▶ 2:41:30You have almost 80,000 employees and you have accusations being leveled against you that you just don't have the resources that you need. You don't have the people in place and how on God's green earth could you get rid of, you know, 1,500 employees in this place? Um well again we have to look at the outcomes of what was taking place. Uh we are not a jobs program. The state department is not. It has to be measured in outcomes.
▶ 2:41:59And so given that you have almost 80,000 employees. Uh are you properly resourced or are you are you lacking? Do you need to be at 90,000?
▶ 2:42:10Thank you, Congressman. I um would like to just respond by saying um as you and I I as you alluded to in your um in your opening statement that um reorganization has been necessary for a long time and as I said multiple administrations have tried and failed to do that.
▶ 2:42:31Um the Trump administration under under President Trump's leadership under Secretary Rubio has um taken a very bold step to eliminate the redundant offices to eliminate the redundant uh roles that were um being uh were being played out under um the previous structure um and with as you said um an an amount of employees and with the budget that um could be streamlined.
▶ 2:43:00And so definitely the the secretary has taken steps to do that. Um, and not just to do that, but um to make sure that our foreign policy is being implemented in a way that's streamlined, that's expedient, that meets the needs um not just of our um our diplomatic partners, more importantly, that it's in line with our American interests, our national interests, our national security interests, our economic security interests, and to ensure um that the future
▶ 2:43:30is um safer and more prosperous and more secure. I thank you for those uh respective outcomes that you're seeking. Those are all worthy outcomes uh that I believe in. Uh I wouldn't say that seeking a set number of employees is a worthy outcome. Uh that's not a metric that I think the State Department should care about. Uh whether it has 80,000 or whether it has 78,500 doesn't matter.
▶ 2:43:59What matters are the outcomes that are achieved. And the fact of the matter is under the Biden administration, it wasn't one or two incidents, as one of my colleagues put it, of well, there might have been some drag shows uh in Ecuador, there might have been some expanded atheism in Nepal or there might have been uh some little bit of transgender here.
▶ 2:44:18It was systemic across every continent, every country, prioritized to use the State Department for social experimentation and virtue signaling instead of measurable outcomes that made America the partner of choice, real diplomacy.
▶ 2:44:36Uh, and I applaud the work that's going on in the State Department to return it to what it needs to do, which is make sure that the policies being put in place are putting the United States of America first. And I'll just close my questioning by this by saying, I believe you put the United States of America first with the State Department by always asking the questions, what does America need from a country or region?
▶ 2:45:04What does that country or region want from the United States of America? And if we choose to provide something, whether it's PEPFAR or anything else or an aid program or, you know, god forbid, a transgender job fair or something else stupid like that, does it get the United States of America what it needs? Because if it doesn't, then somehow we were talking past one another. We didn't have the right conversation.
▶ 2:45:30and I want to ensure that you have the right conversations to get this country what it needs. Uh, I guess I'm yielding my time. I don't have any more time left. I don't know that I can yield it back to myself. I don't know that that's a real thing, but I'm going to now recognize Representative Stanton nonetheless.
▶ 2:45:46Thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Chairman, in the diplomatic arena, we are seeding ground to China. This administration is cutting staff, half-hazardly, restructuring the State Department without congressional input, and proposing steep funding cuts. These are policy choices that create a vacuum of power, and China is taking notice. I'm open to having a real conversation about necessary changes to our foreign policy apparatus.
▶ 2:46:15But we cannot say that we are serious about competing with China when our restructuring means cutting 1300 employees and rescending almost 9 billion in spending on foreign affairs while China has proposed an 8.4% increase in their diplomatic budget.
▶ 2:46:32closing the office that has coordinated the diplomatic response to China's aggression in the South China Sea and closing the office of security and transnational affairs in the Bureau of South and Central Asian affairs which had specific expertise in countering Chinese China's assertiveness in the region. Under Secretary Hooker, is it true that the East Asia-Pacific bureau's multilateral affairs office was scrapped in the reorganization?
▶ 2:47:01that office um has been eliminated and its functions have been integrated into the rest of the offices in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
▶ 2:47:10Is it true that the entire team that had prepped Secretary Rubio for his meetings in Malaysia as part of the Association of South Asian Asian Nations were fired while the secretary was in meetings that they had planned. As I mentioned, the that office was eliminated and the staff that were staffing that office were also eliminated.
▶ 2:47:32Um, I would also like to point out that the efforts to move forward with reorganization began on May 29th when Secretary Rubio notified Congress um and of course were held up for months um by the court cases. Is there anyone in Washington DC at the State Department in charge of leading engagement with ACSEAN, the Pacific Island Forum, the Asia Summit, or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation?
▶ 2:47:57Yes, sir. There are um there are staff um and and officers and the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs that are responsible for each of those uh
▶ 2:48:09Under Secretary Hooker, Secretary Rubio has consistently said that China is the geopolitical challenge we face. It is the greatest geopolitical challenge that we face and we need people in the department that can face directly that threat that requires Mandarin language skills and an understanding of Chinese culture. To follow up on my colleagues earlier questions about laying off Mandarin speakers. Of the Mandarin speakers who were rifted, how many received language training funded by the Department of State?
▶ 2:48:38Sir, I don't have those numbers in front of me, but I can assure you as I would Representative J. Paul, if she were still here, that we do continue to have Mandarin speakers. Some of them are on my staff and are are sitting behind me.
▶ 2:48:50What was the average cost per person of the department's investment in Mandarin language training for those staff?
▶ 2:48:56I am happy to look into those figures for you. That is um something that I do not have um under my purview, but I can work with you to get those numbers back to you from the Bureau of Management. How long on average does it take to replace a Mandarin-peaking Chinese specialized staff member from recruitment to deployment?
▶ 2:49:16Thank you for your question, sir. I I'm happy to look into that. Um I I know uh as I said um we still have Mandarin capability in the department and out in the field. Um and I don't know how how long each of those um each of those individuals have spent learning the language. What percent of the department's total Mandarin language capacity was lost in this riff?
▶ 2:49:40So, thank you for your questions. Happy to look into all of these um all of these question, all the answers to these questions. But I I do want to underscore that um the functions of the offices um that have been eliminated continue. I also want to underscore the expertise that we maintain in the department.
▶ 2:50:04Um, 1300, not quite that number, almost 1300 um talented individuals who had served their country uh very well and we appreciate their service were uh affected by the reduction in force. It doesn't mean that we don't respect them for that, but we have been um
▶ 2:50:24engaged in this reform in order to make our foreign policy more effective, more nimble. Thank you, sir.
▶ 2:50:30Under Secretary Hooker, your answers have not convinced me that this administration fully grasps or even has a plan to mitigate the damage it has done with its half-hearted reorganization to one of the most useful language skills we need, we absolutely need in our diplomatic core. We are facing a critical moment right now with the Chinese challenge to the United States. We cannot afford to give up ownership in this critical arena. I yield back.
▶ 2:50:58Gentleman yields back. Uh we've reached the end of our question uh period for this time. I would like to yield to the gentleman for any closing statement that the minority may have.
▶ 2:51:08I'd like to make a statement on behalf of the ranking member Meeks. Secretary Hook Hooker, you served our nation as a national security professional for more than 20 years. Your expertise on the Korean Peninsula, non-prololiferation, and the Indoacific has helped advance American interests on the global stage. Your public service is appreciated. So, I know that you recognize the value of our career civil and foreign service officers and the unique expertise that they bring to the job every single day.
▶ 2:51:37I know that you know and you recognize that the personnel in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and those working on nuclear issues are essential to achieving our most urgent national security goals. Which is why I also know that you understand just how much harder your job has become after Secretary Rub Rubio fired almost 1300 national security experts from the State Department.
▶ 2:52:01Unfortunately, the Trump administration's dismantling of the State Department is a far cry from the quote modern diplomatic core that is ready to meet the challenges of a complex world unquote that you spoke of in April. The fact of the matter is that the State Department is now unquestionably less prepared to meet those challenges and succeed given the massive cuts, reduction in force and reorganization, and frankly lost talent.
▶ 2:52:28Americans national security is compromised by these short-sighted self-inflicted wounds and we have heard nothing from you today to ease those critical concerns. Thank you.
▶ 2:52:40Gentleman yields back uh for my closing statement. I'll simply recognize you to answer any questions that you felt as though you didn't have the opportunity to answer uh or make any statements that you used to make in closing.
▶ 2:52:53Thank you, Chairman. Um thank you again for the opportunity to appear um before this body and to have the opportunity to tell a good news story. Um actually and first of all I'd like to just um uh reject the premise that the reorganization that Secretary Rubio um has undertaken and historic uh reorganization that he has um undertaken at the Department of State was haphazard. Um it was not haphazard. It was methodical.
▶ 2:53:22Um it was considered um it was conducted by engaging uh senior leadership um at the under secretary level that is both career and political. Um it was conducted by engaging the workforce and which we've talked about here today that more than 650 comments went into the consideration.
▶ 2:53:42Um it was conducted to streamline redundancies and meet um the needs of our foreign policy going forward to eliminate some of the the waste uh some of the inefficiencies that that you've actually also mentioned and your colleagues have mentioned here today. Um and we're on the way to doing that. Um the secretary has taken great strides um by eliminating these offices.
▶ 2:54:07As I mentioned, uh, these were done, these reorganization steps were taken in a way where they're not personal, we're not individual. They were aimed at streamlining functions, streamlining our efforts, um, to make sure that both the president's priorities um, and the interests of the of the American people are being met in the most efficient way possible.
▶ 2:54:29Um, I also want to uh answer the um assertion that we have now a lack of expertise at the State Department. There are still thousands of experts um who also speak Mandarin um at the department um and who are working every day to uh with pride with with great pride working every day to implement the foreign policy of this great nation.
▶ 2:54:55Um so some of our some of your colleagues have just mentioned with the elimination of certain offices that that expertise was just lost forever. No, there are other experts that are working on these issues. These functions have been integrated. Um and uh as I said, I commit to working with this body to um answer some of the questions that you've raised today that maybe I didn't have the answers in front of me. Um but it'd be my great honor to do that.
▶ 2:55:25as it is my great honor to return to the State Department in this role to serve President Trump and to serve Secretary Rubio. And with that, sir, I just like to say thank you very much.
▶ 2:55:34Thank you for your testimony today. Thank you for your comments. Uh I think saying not haphazard is a s perfect way to place this. Uh I spent a lot of time kicking indoors. Kicking indoors. It was rapid. It was violent. There were risks, but it was necessary. Uh but being all of those things, it was the farthest thing from haphazard. It was something that needed to take place. And there were some real doors that needed to be kicked in at the State Department. And I thank Secretary Rubio uh for everything he's undertaken to do that. And I thank you for your lane as that as well.
▶ 2:56:03Pursuant to committee rules all maybe one more. Hold on. Got to find the right page. All right. Uh I thank you for your values your valuable testimony today. I thank all members for their questions. Uh members of this committee may have some additional questions for you under secretary. Uh and they will ask you to respond to those in writing. Pursuant to committee rules, all members may have five days to submit those statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record. Uh, subject to length limitations.
▶ 2:56:32And without objection, this committee stands