Hearing of the State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee - Department of State FY 2012 Budget Requests

Statement

Thank you, Chairwoman Granger for yielding. And Secretary Clinton, thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today.

This is a truly historic time, and I don't have to tell you that our nation has found itself at a crossroads. Over the last two years, we have increased discretionary spending by 24%. Including the stimulus, funding has increased by 84%. Since 2008, base appropriations for the State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee has grown by more than 33%. We are borrowing 40 cents on the dollar. It's time to get serious about reducing spending and putting a dent in our record-setting deficit.

It is difficult to believe that the Administration shares my goal to cut spending when the FY12 State-Foreign Operations request of $59.5 billion is an increase of more than 22% above the FY10 bill. Even if FY10 Supplementals are included, this budget still represents an 8% increase.
While I share the Chairwoman's interest in supporting national security priorities, we simply cannot sustain the level of spending in this bill. We've got some tough choices ahead of us, and I look forward to hearing from you today about the Administration's priorities.

Thank you.

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