Grace Meng Grills Sec. Marco Rubio About Programs Cancelled By The State Department

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At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) questioned Sec. Marco Rubio about Congressional appropriated funding.

Transcript

00:00Privilege to recognize Ms. Meng now.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here today.

00:08First, I wanted to continue to urge you and the President to do everything in your power

00:13to bring home the 58 hostages who Hamas still holds in captivity.

00:18That includes four American citizens, Itai Khan, Gadi Hagai, Judith Weinstein Hagai, and Omer Nutra.

00:25And I want to urge you to continue efforts to please get humanitarian aid into Gaza

00:31and make sure it's getting to Palestinian civilians and not Hamas.

00:37Mr. Secretary, I, too, am extremely concerned that your actions will prevent the State Department

00:44from fulfilling requirements under federal law to comply with congressional directives

00:50and fund programs that Congress agrees, bipartisan agreement, are a priority.

00:56One example is Basic Education, authorized by the Reinforcing Education Accountability and Development, or READ Act.

01:05This is a bill that you personally introduced in 2017,

01:08and I was proud to co-lead its reauthorization last year in the House.

01:13However, during your review of foreign aid, you personally canceled all international basic education programs.

01:21As a result, an estimated 44 million learners will lose access to education, vocational,

01:27and workforce development programs supported by the U.S. government.

01:32These are programs that make us safer, stronger, and more prosperous

01:36by building stability and helping kids stay in school.

01:40This is statutory. Under federal law, you are required to spend these funds.

01:46What is your plan to fulfill the congressional directives of the READ Act

01:50and ensure millions of children around the world can stay in school?

01:54Well, number one, we always look at, I would characterize that as development assistance,

01:59because that's what it is.

02:00You're trying to build the development capabilities of a country,

02:02and I think those would have to be driven.

02:04You know, we would be open to doing programs that work,

02:06but they would have to be driven because an embassy or a regional bureau thinks

02:09these kinds of programs will work in this particular setting,

02:12as opposed to this global view on it.

02:14But just because something's called something nice doesn't necessarily mean that's what it's delivering on.

02:18There are many of these programs where, frankly, if you talk to the partner nation,

02:21they would say, I'll give you an example.

02:23I was recently in one of the Caribbean nations,

02:25and they're very grateful for help with schools,

02:27but their number one need is security.

02:29They have to build up their police departments and their security assistance.

02:32So they would tell you, before we can focus on our educational systems,

02:35we want to build capacity in our law enforcement so we can provide security

02:39so that then our society can flourish and that could be possible.

02:42That doesn't mean education is not important.

02:43It just means that the nation has identified that as a more important need,

02:49and we want to have the flexibility to be able to prioritize what could be most helpful.

02:53So that I agree, and we would love to work with you on potential legislation

02:59and programming on safety and security.

03:02But this legislation, it's not just something that sounds nice and has a pretty title.

03:06We worked on this together, the Senate, the House, Republicans, Democrats.

03:11It's something that's important and keeps us safe, and that is statutory.

03:16That is something that has been touched.

03:18And so I wanted to follow up also in the same vein with international family planning

03:24and reproductive health programs.

03:26You have also canceled all of these programs.

03:29These programs are life-saving.

03:32In 2024 alone, they were estimated to save the lives of 34,000 women and girls,

03:38prevent over 5 million unsafe abortions,

03:41and serve over 47 million women and couples around the world with modern contraceptive care.

03:47You are statutorily required to spend $575 million in bilateral international planning awards

03:55as Congress provided in 2024.

03:58What is the plan?

04:00There's no plan.

04:01As I said, on those programs, with regards to that, there's no plan to spend that money.

04:04We're not going to be in that business globally.

04:07I mean, we're not going to do it.

04:08So it doesn't matter that Congress passed the law?

04:11Well, the money that's been appropriated is for that purpose, but the money that's been spent,

04:17those programs, the way that money was being spent and the specific uses,

04:21we're not going to continue to do it in that same way.

04:23What is the plan then?

04:25I know you talked about reorganization.

04:28Again, all of those funds that will be brought under one of the two buckets of humanitarian assistance.

04:33It could be development assistance.

04:34It could be refugee and migration assistance.

04:36We will work with Congress to find a way to channel those funds in a way that complies with the statute,

04:41but at the same time are not funding activities that the administration feels is outside even the purview of the statute.

04:47I just want to say that that is statute.

04:49That is law.

04:50And contrary to your testimony, you are touching and changing it.

04:54And you said you wanted to work together with Congress.

04:57On April 24th, almost 90 members sent you a letter about these programs requesting a response.

05:03We still have not received a response.

05:06I respect that you say you want to work with us, but we need more than words.

05:10We need actions.

05:11You'll get a response.

05:12What day was that letter?

05:13April 24th.

05:15Thank you very much.

05:16I yield back.

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