Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Funding Bill
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Committee's markup of the fiscal year 2026 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs bill:
Thank you, indeed my good friend, it is not said lightly, the Chairman of the full committee. I thank Chairman Diaz-Balart, Ranking Member Frankel, and the subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle for their work. In particular, I want to shout out Erin Kolodjeski, Laurie Mignone, and Ed Etzkorn.
I must oppose the bill before us today, which dismantles American diplomacy and soft power, abdicates American leadership, yields the global stage to China and Russia, threatens women’s health, and abandons people around the world.
Since taking office, President Trump’s Administration has stolen resources, appropriated by this committee, passed by Democrats and Republicans in the House and in the Senate, for programs and services across the federal government, including several in this bill, that protect and promote American interests and security around the world.
Instead of being laser-focused on the cost-of-living crisis, President Trump and Republicans are making it worse.
Their Big Ugly Bill is handing massive tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations while driving up the cost of living for hardworking Americans, and while the Administration empowers billionaires and dismantles agencies and programs that save lives and protect our national security.
President Trump is aggressively pursuing an America-last agenda that will only see America become weaker, more isolated and more ostracized – it is actively devastating impoverished regions, causing tragic and preventable death around the world, and hurting American farmers.
They empowered Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, who orchestrated the evisceration of USAID and a freeze on programs saving the lives of vulnerable people around the planet.
Testing and monitoring of diseases have dwindled. Life-saving treatments have stopped. Partnerships nurtured over decades to improve people’s wellbeing were severed. And just last week, the State Department destroyed 500 tons of taxpayer-funded emergency food, which could have fed 1.5 million kids for a week.
Earlier this month, there was a purge of our diplomatic corps at the Department of State, where career nonpartisan staff, who dedicated their lives to advancing American interests and who hold a wealth of irreplaceable knowledge and relationships, were fired.
If you were China or Russia and you wanted to weaken America, what would you do differently? This self-destruction is inexplicable, it is unfathomable, and it is unforgivable.
It may be easy for some people to look the other way and assume that these cuts are only inflicting harm on the other side of the world. But this affects all of our constituents.
New Haven, Connecticut’s Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services or IRIS brings hope and builds community in my district. They selflessly help refugees and immigrants navigate their lawful presence and build their lives in America where they can be free from oppression, free from destitution, and free to become an important part of their country’s fabric and economy. These are people who are lawfully in our country – they have been vetted.
But President Trump’s order freezing grants for refugee resettlement agencies across America is throwing IRIS – and the lives of refugees – into chaos.
IRIS’s Director said, and I quote, “I work alongside Afghans who supported U.S. forces and came to the U.S. a few years ago, and they’re still waiting for family to come. Some of them were expecting travel orders for their family at any time. All of that stopped.” End quote.
Snubbing our allies and turning our back to the world does not make us strong. It makes us weak. It makes us an unreliable ally and an untrustworthy partner. Unfortunately, this bill doubles-down on this America-last agenda.
It slashes humanitarian assistance by more than a third, and foreign assistance by over 20 percent – creating a soft power vacuum that China is eager to exploit.
When we are helping impoverished communities and nations treat diseases, when we are feeding starving children in conflict zones, and when we help ensure villages have drinkable water, we are using and gaining soft power.
We do these things because of our generosity. My faith reminds me of our duty to care for the vulnerable and to feed the hungry.
Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
We also do these things because they are in our own interest. They build influence, our global standing, and strengthen our national security. When we retreat from the global stage, China and Russia fill in the gaps, and the world becomes a more dangerous place. Whose name is on that sack of flour? Whose name is on the door of the clinic? Whose name is on the schoolbook? The United States of America. It must remain that way.
The bill scapegoats our international partners – U.N. agencies and NGOs that deliver lifesaving aid to the most vulnerable people around the globe. Organizations like UNRWA will be destroyed, leaving children and families in Gaza and other places around the world to starve and to die.
Mr. Chairman, I ask for your commitment to work together on section 7067, which would place restrictions on funding to the Office of the UN Secretary General until conditions purportedly on UNRWA are met. While we all support justice for all those murdered on October 7, I do not believe the language matches the intent.
The provision is overly broad, and penalizes important UN entities until specific actions are taken by the United States government. This makes no sense.
Moreover, UN immunity is already waived in cases where it would impede the course of justice, or where someone has committed human rights violations, or engaged in or supported acts of terrorism.
We all want justice for the horrific attacks on both Americans and our friends in Israel, and indeed, the Justice Department has a Task Force already investigating this issue. We should work together to address this in a manner that achieves true justice.
This bill puts women and children at risk by prohibiting funding for the United Nations Population Fund, slashing support for bilateral family planning, emergency obstetrics services, and responses to gender-based violence, and it cuts over $300 million from programs that improve maternal and child health, and fight infectious diseases.
This bill surrenders our efforts to combat the climate crisis – eliminating support for climate adaptability and clean energy, ignoring the nexus between climate, conflict, and migration, and jeopardizing the safety and security of our children, our grandchildren, and every generation to follow.
I cannot support this bill. And I will not stop fighting to protect America’s interests, and against this Administration’s dangerous dismantling of our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts across the world.
I yield back.
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