Greg Stanton: Trump Admin Is ‘Charging Full Speed’ Into Pattern Of Past Foreign Policy Failures

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During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) condemned the Trump Administration and Sec. Marco Rubio actions within the State Department.

Transcript

00:00Representative Stanton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Our goal as a

00:04committee should be to make sure the State Department is efficient and

00:08effective in driving U.S. foreign policy, and I'd hope to have a frank, serious,

00:14and informed conversation here today about where we should be doubling down

00:18on our strategic investments and where we could do away with bureaucratic blow.

00:23But then last week, Secretary Rubio unilaterally announced a drastic

00:28reorganization of the State Department without any input from the United

00:32States Congress. It's part of a troubling pattern of this administration sidelining

00:36or completely going around the co-equal legislative branch and the people we

00:40represent. While there's no question that American foreign policy has made serious

00:44mistakes over the decades, in nearly every case those failures were made worse

00:48because administrations hid the truth from Congress or they rushed decisions

00:54before the American people could weigh in. For all the Trump administration's

00:58talk about avoiding the foreign policy failures of the past, it's charging full

01:02speed into that same pattern. On the anniversary of the fall of Saigon, we should be

01:08learning from some of America's most painful foreign policy disasters, not

01:13repeating conditions that caused them. This reorganization is just the latest blow

01:18to the tools of American soft power, diplomacy, development, humanitarian

01:23leadership that have helped counter threats from Russia, Iran, and China for

01:27decades. That have boosted the Arizona economy by attracting foreign tourists,

01:32industry giants, and the best and brightest foreign students. That have reduced the

01:37flow of fentanyl by coordinating law enforcement across countries. That have helped

01:42reduce migration by helping people stay in their home countries instead of

01:45overwhelming our southern border even beyond what's already happening. No global

01:50challenge lends itself to quick or easy solutions, but each of them demand

01:56principled, consistent American leadership. Right now the most dangerous lie we can

02:02indulge is that if we if disentangle ourselves from the global economy and our

02:07humanitarian commitments and withdraw from our strategic alliances, that will

02:11somehow return America to greatness. It won't. America's interests are global,

02:18Arizona's interests are global, and our security and prosperity depend on the

02:22strength of our alliances. Ms. Zeya, why is engaging with Congress important, not just

02:28from a constitutional perspective, but from a practical one?

02:31Ms. Well, I think as one of my panelists mentioned earlier, it keeps the work of the State

02:39Department grounded with the will of the American people, but it also that

02:44consultative process, what Secretary Blinken often called, you know, being

02:48present at the takeoff, not just the landing with respect of policies, I think it

02:53produces better outcomes. And when you look at, you know, US humanitarian and human

02:58rights policy and the through line, the continuity, you know, it's built upon one

03:03bipartisan initiative after the other, whether it's the US Refugee Act of 1980 or

03:08the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016. And we've talked about the Trafficking Victims Protection

03:17Act, the International Religious Freedom Act. I seriously doubt that the Department

03:23of State, which I served proudly for most of my adult life, would have come up with

03:27those initiatives on its own, without the leadership and the direction from the US

03:33Congress.

03:34A follow-up question. Do cuts of the kind proposed by Secretary Rubio signal an

03:39understanding of what is required to effectively compete with China, Russia,

03:43Iran, and other adversaries?

03:45I don't see that strategy in what has been presented so far. And, you know, I'll give

03:54you a small example. In addition to being an undersecretary, I was the US Special

03:59Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. Now, this is a role in which we've had decades of

04:06bipartisan support. It is supporting preservation of the unique religious,

04:11cultural, linguistic traditions of the Tibetan people, but it's also about

04:15preventing a certain PRC effort to co-opt the succession of His Holiness the

04:21Dalai Lama. Tibet is considered a core issue for the CCP. It is a focus of

04:29attention where the repression has taken on the enormity of over a million children

04:34and government-forced re-education, so-called boarding schools. The future of

04:41that position is completely unclear on that org chart. We were a small office. We

04:46were able to rally greater international support, devote attention to an issue that

04:52is coming to the fore with the Dalai Lama turning 90 this year. If we walk away from

04:58roles like this, it is literally a free giveaway to the CCP.

05:03That's a very powerful answer. I ran out of time, so with that I'll yield back, Mr. Chairman.

05:08Thank you, Representative Moylan.

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