A new draft proposal from the White House would eliminate UN funding. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)
The proposal is an early draft and has to pass layers of approval within the administration before it even gets to Congress. Congress can then take it as an outline but ultimately draw up its own budget figures.
The foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated.
The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general’s office and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.
It also proposes a 54% cut to global public health funding, with carve-outs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, and a complete elimination of international peacekeeping funds.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the final budget proposal sent to Congress would be up to President Donald Trump. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)
The White House budget is set to be transferred to Congress next month before the Republican-led House and Senate get to work on passing appropriations bills for each agency of government.
Meanwhile, agencies are expected to present their own plans for reorganization to the White House this week, outlining what cuts they believe are necessary to further shrink the federal government. The State Department has not yet publicly detailed its plans for downsizing.
As reports of the cuts emerged, Democrats warned that U.S. adversaries would fill the vacuum left by America around the world.
The cuts "would leave our country alone and exposed and allow China and Russia to fill the vacuum made vacant by this administration," according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, N.H., top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
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"Why in the world would we cut funding for NATO at a moment when war is raging in Europe and security threats on the continent grow?" she added.
It is not clear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorses the initial proposal. "I want to hear from Secretary Rubio directly," said Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii, top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that handles State funding, calling the reports "deeply troubling."
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