The Trump administration is pondering proposals to cut the State Department’s budget by $27 billion (almost half) and is closing small embassies and consulates around the world.
The proposal calls for the elimination of funding to more than 20 international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and American state organizations.
The United States donated approximately $13 billion to the United Nations and approximately $3.5 billion to NATO in 2023. The proposed budget calls for $2 billion to be allocated to “America First” priorities. The documents show that these sources can be used for “specific partners” such as India and Jordan, and broader priorities such as the Tuna Treaty of the South Pacific.
However, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that there is “no final plan, no final budget.”
Pete Marrocco, the mastermind behind the demolition of the USAID project, leaves the State Department
A new draft proposal from the White House would eliminate UN funding. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA (SIPA via AP image)
This proposal is an early draft, and a layer of approval must be passed within the administration before reaching Congress. Congress can then consider it a summary, but ultimately creates its own budget figures.
Travel budgets and benefits for foreign services will be reduced and the Fulbright Scholarship Program will be eliminated.
The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, a reduction in inspectors’ offices, and a closure of small embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.
It also proposes a 54% reduction in global public health funding with the complete elimination of sculptures for malaria, HIV and tuberculosis and the international peacekeeping fund.
The proposal calls for the removal of NATO funds. (Jacqueline Martin/Pool via Reuters)
When asked about budget planning during a State Department briefing, spokesman Tammy Bruce said, “Through U.S. history, everyone has a budget plan, everyone has a budget idea. And every president has a budget plan, and they send it to Congress, and Congress accepts it.
“There is no final plan, no final budget,” she emphasized.
The Trump administration moved swiftly to dismantle foreign aid, eliminate nearly 90% of the USAID project, integrate it with the State Department, and refund “soft power” institutions such as American voice, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network.
The State Department will absorb the rest of the USAID programming as independent agencies are dismantled
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said the final budget proposal sent to Congress would be left to President Donald Trump. (Donald Trump 2024 Campaign)
The White House budget is expected to move to Congress next month before the Republican-led House and Senate tackle the bill for bills for government agencies.
Meanwhile, the agency is expected to present its own plan for a restructuring this week to the White House, outlining the cuts it appears necessary to further reduce the federal government. The State Department has not yet made public plans for downsizing.
With reports of cuts emerging, Democrats warned that US enemies would fill the void left by the US all over the world.
“The cuts will leave our country abandoned, exposed and allow China and Russia to fill the void that has been vacated by this administration,” said the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
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“Why would we cut NATO funding in the world at a time when wars intensify in Europe and the security threats on the continent grow?” she added.
It is not clear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio supports the original proposal. “I want to hear directly from Secretary Rubio,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz told a top Democrat who called the report “deeply troublesome.”
