The State Department's Foreign Policy Strategy and FY20 Budget Request

THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY AND FY20 BUDGET REQUEST HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 27, 2019 Serial No. 116–16 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov, or http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 35–589PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas, Ranking GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi JIM COSTA, California JUAN VARGAS, California VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas JASON STEINBAUM, Staff Director BRENDAN SHIELDS, Republican Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page WITNESS Pompeo, Hon. Michael, Secretary, United States Department of State .............. 7 ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Information submitted for the record from Representative Cicilline .................. 45 Information submitted for the record from Representative McCaul ................... 93, 94 APPENDIX Hearing Notice ......................................................................................................... 97 Hearing Minutes ...................................................................................................... 98 Hearing Attendance ................................................................................................. 99 STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD Statement for the record submitted by Chairman Engel ..................................... 100 Statement for the record submitted by Chairman Engel ..................................... 102 RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Response to questions submitted by Chairman Engel ......................................... 103 Response to questions submitted by Representative McCaul .............................. 222 Response to questions submitted by Representative Sherman ............................ 223 Response to questions submitted by Representative Perry ................................. 228 Response to questions submitted by Representative Sires .................................. 232 Response to questions submitted by Representative Burchett ............................ 239 Response to questions submitted by Representative Keating .............................. 240 Response to questions submitted by Representative Cicilline ............................. 242 Response to questions submitted by Representative Bera ................................... 262 Response to questions submitted by Representative Lieu ................................... 272 Response to questions submitted by Representative Allred ................................ 283 Response to questions submitted by Representative Houlahan .......................... 285 (III) THE STATE DEPARTMENT’S FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY AND FY20 BUDGET REQUEST Wednesday, March 27, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 12:35 p.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eliot Engel (chairman of the committee) presiding. Chairman ENGEL [presiding]. The committee will come to order. Without objection, all members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record, subject to the length limitation in the rules. Chairman ENGEL. This afternoon, we will hear testimony from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the Trump Administration’s 2020 international affairs budget request and a range of other issues dealing with the Administration’s foreign policy and man- agement of the State Department. Welcome back to the House, Mr. Secretary. I know you spent many good days here, and I appreciated your reaching out shortly after the election when you were first nominated as Secretary of State. I value our open line of communication. Secretary POMPEO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman ENGEL. Welcome to the public and members of the press as well, especially our friends from C-SPAN who are cele- brating its 40th birthday this week. So, let me, first of all, start with the budget. The Administra- tion’s first budget request before you were Secretary, Mr. Sec- retary, was deeply disappointing. Slashing investments in diplomacy and development by nearly a third, it met resounding bipartisan rejection here in Congress. The second budget was baffling. After Congress made it clear we would not gut American diplomacy, the Administration made es- sentially the same request to do just that. Again, it was rejected. And the third budget, which, once again, in my opinion, seeks to hobble the State Department and other agencies, this, in my view, demonstrates contempt for diplomacy and diplomats and contempt for the Congress, frankly, whose job it is to decide how much to spend on foreign affairs. The first year, when the budget was sent, it was rejected, and we came up with our budget, in a bipartisan way I should say. And then, the second year, the Administration came to lowball us once again. And now, the third year, at the same time when the budget has been rejected twice before, why would the Administration send a similar budget, only to be rejected a third time? (1) 2 So, Mr. Secretary, let me be clear, this budget request was dead the moment it arrived on Capitol Hill. I do not know whether the Administration really believes that we can mount an effective foreign policy, one that advances American interests, values, and se- curity, on a shoestring budget, or if the people calling the shots just do not care. But Congress will not stand by and see American leadership on the global stage undermined, and that is not just our opinion; that is the power of the purse. That is what we are sup- posed to do. So, that is the good news. The bad news comes when the Administration shows the world just how little stock it puts in diplomacy and development, in building bridges of friendship and forging alliances, in resolving conflict and crises. This budget, in my opinion, signals to the world that the Trump foreign policy is one of disengagement, of pulling back from places where American leadership is needed the most. And we know other countries that do not share our values, countries like China and Russia and Iran, those countries are more than happy to fill the void. So, it also tells our diplomatic and development work force that their efforts are not valued. That has had an impact that we can already see. We see it in the plummeting morale at the State De- partment and the number of diplomats chased to the exits. We see it in report after report after report of politically motivated tar- geting and harassment of career employees, allegations on which the Department has failed to respond to multiple committee re- quests for information. We see it in the drop of the number of civil servants at the Department and the sharp decline in employee sat- isfaction, according to the Partnership for Public Service. And when I look at the Administration’s policies, I am left won- dering how often, if State Department experts are being ignored completely. From denigrating our alliances; NATO; to cozying up to strongmen; to walking away from our international agreements and obligations; from an abortive summit with North Korea; to saber rattling in Venezuela; to clearing the way for Iran and Rus- sia to run roughshod over Syria, if we leave; from waging a trade war with China that is hurting American farmers and consumers; to slamming the door on vulnerable people around the world seek- ing to come to our country, those do not seem like policies to me built on the expertise and experience that our diplomats offer. They seem like what I call fly by-the-seat-of-your-pants diplomacy. And so, as Congress exercises its constitutional responsibility in rejecting the inadequate budget request, this committee will also conduct oversight to deal with what I consider major problems in foreign policy and at the State Department. Mr. Secretary, I was hopeful that the Department would work collaboratively with us to allow this committee to carry out its con- stitutionally mandated oversight duties, but I must say, 3 months into this Congress, the response from the Department to our re- quests has ranged from foot-dragging to outright stonewalling. It is very frustrating, and that is not acceptable. I believe you would feel the same way, since I know you, if you were still a Member of this body. I hope the trend changes, but if it does not, I will use every tool at this committee’s

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