Ranking Member Lee Floor Remarks on Republicans’ 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Funding Bill

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), Ranking Member of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to the fiscal year 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs bill:

Mister Chair, I rise in opposition to the House Republican draft of the fiscal year 2025 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

This woefully underfunded bill will weaken America and leave us vulnerable to our adversaries.

The measures Republicans are bringing to the House floor this week would slash our diplomatic and development programs by a shocking 12 percent—while at the same time seeking to increase military spending by $8.5 billion.

These cuts would leave America vastly weakened. This continues a dangerous trend that puts the Pentagon on steroids—while leaving diplomacy and development on life support.

Our national security is built on three pillars: defense, diplomacy, and development. We need all three to be strong to execute a foreign policy that advances both our interests and our values.

We already spend 50 percent less in real terms on diplomacy and development than we did 40 years ago. If only defense is adequately funded, it means that we will too often rely only on military force—which should be a last resort, not our first.

In the famous words of General Mattis, “if you don’t fund the State Department, you need to buy me more ammunition.”

My Republican colleagues like to talk a good game about confronting China. In truth, this bill is a gift to Beijing’s diplomatic efforts. Even before the billion-dollar cut to our embassies and Foreign Service Officers, the People’s Republic of China now has more foreign missions and more diplomats than we do. And the bill’s prohibitions on participation in global venues like the United Nations or World Health Organization will simply mean that China’s self-interest will go unchecked by the United States.

I just returned from a bipartisan delegation to Africa, where my colleagues and I—Democrats and Republicans—met with reformers in key African democracies. These leaders told us they preferred to partner with the United States over China—but too often, American presence and investment was missing in action.

Countering the PRC’s influence means America needs to show up. Republicans can’t have it both ways. China, Russia, and all of our adversaries will rush to fill the void left by this bill.

This bill also takes a dishonest approach to the existential threat posed by climate change. People around the world are confronting the impacts of human-caused climate change right now—life threatening temperatures, crop failures, floods and severe weather. Many of us are experiencing this in our own districts and hometowns.

We can’t change the temperature—climate change is here. The past 12 months have been the hottest ever measured. But we can help people and communities around the world to cope with the most life-threatening impacts.

But this bill ignores reality. It includes no funding for clean energy. No funding to help communities adapt to drought, rising coastlines, or extreme heat. No funding to stop deforestation or recurring coastal flooding. And the bill cuts off cooperation with other countries.

The bill also wages war on women’s reproductive freedom. 218 million women still cannot access the tools to decide when and how to have a baby. As a result, hundreds of thousands die in childbirth. The Republican bill makes it harder for women to access care. It also cuts off funding to UNFPA, the one partner that helps mothers and babies in the hardest places to reach. Moms and babies will die because of this.

But the most damaging aspect of this bill is the massive abdication and retreat of U.S. leadership around the world. The bill treats issues and countries as black and white, good and evil. It is our way or the highway. This is fundamentally undemocratic for a country that stands for democracy.

A key example is how this bill doubles and triples down on the failed Cuban embargo. There’s no track record of success nurturing democracy and human rights by punishing regular people.

Instead of listening to partners and addressing concerns together, this bill forces the U.S. to go it alone and reject any country with a different perspective. Perhaps most telling, the largest increase in this bill is Foreign Military Financing, while zeroing out the United Nations and outright prohibiting a half a dozen UN bodies. The message of this bill is more weapons, less cooperation.

This is not how the world works. This approach is isolating America. Yes, human rights violators and countries that do not share our values also participate in these organizations. But that is why we must stay engaged. If we cede the ground to countries with little regard for human rights, we are enabling more injustice.

I urge my colleagues to reject this bill, and get to work on a truly bipartisan approach that will protect and advance America’s security, interest, and values.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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