Diaz-Balart Remarks at FY25 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Bill Full Committee Markup

I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2025 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill to the full committee for consideration and approval. 

I want to thank Chairman Cole for keeping the Appropriations Committee on task and getting our work done.  It is critical we continue to report these bills, so thank you for your leadership.

The State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill before us today totals $51.7 billion in new budget authority, which is a cut of $7.6 billion from the fiscal year 2024 enacted level, or 11 percent, and $12.3 billion below the President’s fiscal year 2025 request.

This allocation, and the policies within the bill, will allow us to build on important changes in the FY24 bill signed into law only a few months ago. 

There are some who say cuts of this magnitude jeopardize United States leadership in the world and make us less safe.  I completely disagree.  In fact, it is just the opposite.

The bill before us prioritizes funding that directly supports U.S. national security. 

It eliminates controversial or ineffective programs that American taxpayers do not support and that, quite frankly, our allies and partners don’t support either. 

This bill is pretty straightforward. If you are a friend or an ally of the United States, this bill supports you. If you are an adversary or are cozying up to our adversaries, then you will not like this bill.

As the saying goes, the world is on fire right now. 

We should not be throwing fuel on the flames by funding organizations requested in the President’s budget that—

• Employ terrorists – like UNRWA;
• Provide a platform on the global stage to the worst human rights abusers – like the Human Rights Council;
• Take bogus legal action against Israel as it fights for its very existence – like the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice;
• Cower to communist China and deny Taiwan observer status – like the World Health Organization;
• Pay other countries climate reparations – like the Loss and Damages Fund; or
• Promote and mobilize migrant caravans to the U.S. southern border – like any number of organizations, thanks to this Administration’s open borders policy.  

This bill stops funding to all of those organizations, and more, not just because it’s a waste of money, but because those organizations actually work against our interests and those of our allies. 

With respect to our allies, the bill provides unwavering support for Israel, and fully funds the United States-Israel Memorandum of Understanding by providing $3.3 billion in security assistance. 

It expands upon new conditions included in the FY24 bill aimed at addressing rampant antisemitism and anti-Israel bias throughout the United Nations and other international organizations.

Speaking of the United Nations, the bill acknowledges the mockery that is the UN and zeros out the UN regular budget.  It does not deserve one more dime of taxpayer funding.

In addition to the list I already covered at the start, I could spend the next hour going over example after example of the UN and it's entities working directly against our interests.  Every other day, it’s something else. 

Most recently, we learned that the UN Secretary General will release his report on “Children in Armed Conflict” later this week, where he has now placed Israel in the same category as Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, and Hezbollah regarding the treatment of children.  The Secretary General and his United Nations could not be more divorced from reality if they had asked Hamas to ghost-write this report on their behalf. 

Hamas, with the help of UNRWA, has been using children as human shields and brainwashing them into its death cult for years. 

So, no funding for the UN.  They do not merit support.  We use those resources instead for areas that are in our national security interests.

For example, confronting the national security threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party remains a top priority. The bill provides $2.1 billion to counter the malign influence of the People’s Republic of China, which is above the President’s request, and remember, that is within a significant reduction to the topline.   

Within this funding, $500 million Foreign Military Financing is included for Taiwan’s security needs.  The bill also prioritizes funding for other critical partners in the Indo-Pacific including the Philippines and Pacific Islands countries.

Turning to our hemisphere, the bill makes important investments to combat the trafficking of fentanyl and the transnational criminal organizations behind this scourge confronting every community in America.

On this effort, I want to acknowledge the work of my good friend Hal Rogers, the Dean of the House, who in so many ways has really led this body in combating opioids and the threat they pose to our country.

The bill also holds accountable governments failing to cooperate on counternarcotics and other issues of critical importance to the United States.   For example, no funds—not one dollar—go to Mexico until a certification is made that an agreement is in place to restore water deliveries owed to the United States from Mexico. 

We also have said that we will treat friends as friends, and the distinguished President of Mexico has not been acting like a friend lately by actively opposing U.S. policy which aims to promote freedom and democracy in Cuba and Venezuela, and failing to fully support counternarcotics trafficking or countering migration through Mexico to our southern border.

The bill increases support for freedom and democracy for the people of Cuba by providing $35 million for democracy funding and $35 million for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. 

It also reigns in attempts by the Biden administration to promote engagement with so-called entrepreneurs in Cuba’s closed, communist economy.  Let me be clear, the only truly independent entrepreneurs in Cuba are in prison. 

Anyone else claiming to be an entrepreneur is licensed by the regime, meaning the regime is the big winner from these dangerous and insulting policies. 

Because the administration attempted to get around the prohibition that was included in the fiscal year 2024 law, this bill broadens the prohibition on funding for so-called “entrepreneurs” for fiscal year 2025 by applying the prohibition to the entire bill. While the Cuban people are risking their lives to demand true freedom, the Biden Administration is attempting to throw their oppressors a lifeline with sanctions relief.  

By the way, this is the very regime which, according to press accounts is conducting joint military exercises with Russian naval vessels this week.  Cuban troops are even trained in Belarus, presumably to support Russia’s fight to fight against Ukraine. 

The last time I checked, the Administration has pressed this Congress to pull out all the stops to help Ukraine defeat Putin’s aggression.  So why, at the same time, are they working so hard to prop up the Cuban regime, Putin’s closest military and intelligence ally in our hemisphere, and a U.S.-designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, by relaxing sanctions and allowing it new access to U.S. financial markets? 

This coddling of dangerous dictators must end, and this bill works to counter the Biden Administration’s confused and dangerous policy toward our adversaries.  

Finally, and importantly, this bill includes all longstanding pro-life protections, which includes a prohibition on all funds from being used to pay for abortions and builds on those requirements by applying the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy to all global health funding. The bill also prohibits funding for the U.N. Population Fund.

It promotes American values by increasing funding for religious freedom programs abroad and supports faith-based organizations that are helping to deliver United States foreign assistance.

This bill would not be what it is without the valuable input from the Members of this Committee and the Subcommittee, in particular.  Your thoughtful recommendations have shaped the measure before you and I am grateful for your contributions.

I also want to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle – The Subcommittee clerk Susan Adams and her team – Craig Higgins, Clelia Alvarado, Jamie McCormick, Trey Hicks, Meg Gallagher, Alex Sutton, John Muscolini, and John Pezzullo.  From my personal office, I want to thank Cesar Gonzales, Gisselle Reynolds, and Autumn Morley.

From the minority staff, I want to thank Erin Kolodjeski, Laurie Mignon, and Stephanie Reed.   

We appreciate all of your help.