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By Daniella Cheslow , Nahal Toosi and Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing |
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“We’ve worked hand in glove” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, HFAC Chair Brian Mast said outside the amid the committee's debate over amendments to a package of bills governing State Department policy. | Francis Chung/POLITICO |
With help from Eric Bazail-Eimil and Daniel Lippman House Foreign Affairs is more than seven hours into debate over amendments to a package of bills governing State Department policy. Amid lots of bluster and grandstanding, one thing is clear: The GOP is eager to codify President DONALD TRUMP ’s effort to purge anything that could be seen as “woke” from the department and cut back on many soft power initiatives. “We’ve worked hand in glove” with Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO , HFAC Chair BRIAN MAST (R-Fla.) told your host outside the committee hearing room in Rayburn. As he introduced his panel’s package to his colleagues this morning, Mast told them, “No more rogue diplomats funding transgender musicals and saying that that is soft power.” In keeping with that push, Rep. SHERI BIGGS (R-S.C.) pitched an amendment that would block funding for “divisive ideology,” including diversity, equity and inclusion programming throughout the agency. It would also prevent awarding grants or contracts to entities “that promote DEI, sexual orientation, or gender ideology.” Ranking member GREGORY MEEKS (D-N.Y.) led Democrats in opposing what he called the “harmful and inflammatory” amendment. But Mast voiced support for the amendment, saying of DEI, “That’s not our diplomatic mission, it’s not our soft power.” Republicans on the committee also hewed closely to the Trump playbook on funding to the United Nations, opposing an amendment proposed by Rep. MADELEINE DEAN (D-Pa.) to allocate billions of dollars to the world body. Mast said U.N. peacekeepers are “some of the worst.” The markup was scheduled to last into the night. So far, the panel advanced six of the nine bills. Assuming some general version of his proposal advances, it presents a roadmap for fundamentally reshaping the State Department in a way that outlast Trump’s time in office, with new — more transactional — ways to face off against adversaries and allies alike. One way is through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which was created in Trump’s first term to provide loans for development projects overseas and offer an alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative. One of Mast’s bills would extend the DFC’s authorization, increase its spending authority and lift restrictions on its investments in higher income countries. Dems have protested, saying that investing in wealthy countries would run counter to DFC’s mission. Mast stressed to NatSec Daily that the restrictions were “stupid hand-tying.” He said an enhanced DFC was “not aid” and not intended to replace the shuttered USAID: “This our initiative to counter China in terms of development,” he said. “This will be opened up to wherever it’s strategic for us to work.” That comes as Rubio has fired China experts as part of his reorganization of the agency. Mast’s own 93-page policy bill would establish a “Regional China Officer Program” and position at least 20 diplomats to monitor and report on China’s actions. Dems appeared to be getting a handful of their priorities through. Those include Meeks’ amendment to preserve certain fellowship programs . Lawmakers including Mast advanced an amendment from Rep. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-Calif.) that would restore the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts intended for Afghans who fought alongside American troops before the 2021 U.S. withdrawal. And although Mast included in his original legislation a measure that would have allowed the State Department to revoke U.S. passports from people deemed to have supported terrorism, he was scheduled to strike that idea in an amendment later today |