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Floor Speech
I have to say, a lot of us have said for years that the greatest national security threat that Americans face is our skyrocketing national debt.
President Trump agrees with us and is committed to doing something about this. We must confront this, and to do so, hard choices are going to have to be made, and all--all--parts of government will have to be looked at very closely.
The idea of merging USAID and the State Department is not new and has been floated by nearly every administration since the latter part of the last century.
I am supportive of the Trump administration's efforts to reform and restructure the Agency in a way that better serves U.S. national security interests.
I am fortunate enough to talk with Secretary Rubio virtually daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and I was aware this was coming. As I said, I have encouraged that this be looked at. Today, along with a number of my colleagues on relevant committees on both sides of the aisle and the Hill, I received notification that Secretary Rubio is beginning the process of merging USAID into State. I had received this informal notice earlier than this.
There is a lot of work to do in this effort, and there is a process set up for doing this. Secretary Rubio is following that process and looks forward to working with all of us as he goes through that process. It is my hope that all of my colleagues in both parties will help to do this important work.
I have to say that this is just one Agency. There are many, many, many Agencies out there, and this is going to be coming down the pike on every amount of government spending. Elections have consequences, and this is one of the consequences, that we are going to do our best to reduce spending--do it by efficiencies, by combining where it is necessary.
I will continue to be in close coordination with Secretary Rubio on this as it moves forward. Res. 51.
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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, first of all, to my good friend from Delaware, I know that he is aware that a number of the programs here have already received a waiver because the case was made for those programs, and that is appropriate.
But, look, as I started to say at the beginning, this is about the debt of the United States. The fact that we are borrowing $1 trillion every hundred days--it can't go on.
This institution, as long as I have been here, has been trying to do something about it. We have tried over and over and over again to make something happen. What do we do? We create a study group. The study group sits down, they talk for 2 years, they create a great big report, and nothing ever comes of it. This President is making things happen.
One of the Agencies that a lot of us have had concerns about over the years is USAID and how the money was being spent. We are going to have a look at it. I have no doubt that when we are done with that, everyone is going to have a say, and at the end of the day, we will, as we do in a democracy, vote, and that will be the end of it.
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