Media

Today, Congressman Jim Baird (IN-04) released the following statement after voting in the House Foreign Affairs Committee to pass a package to reauthorize the U.S. Department of State and implement critical reforms to restore accountability and ensure the department is properly advancing U.S. interests abroad:

“Before today, Congress had not authorized the State Department since 2002, and 85 percent of the State Department runs without congressional authorization. While the State Department has a noble mission, over the past 23 years, it has operated inefficiently and ineffectively at taxpayers’ expense. That ends today. This State Department reauthorization makes critical reforms to reduce duplicative work, increase efficiency, and provide the State Department with clear guidance to conduct diplomacy effectively. This package strengthens our ability to counter emerging threats and focuses on creating results-based policies and clear metrics for success. I want to thank Chairman Brian Mast for including some of my key priorities, including the NOPE Act to prevent tax dollars from funding U.N. organizations that give rights or privileges to the Palestinian Authority or Palestinian Liberation Organization; requiring foreign aid to be branded with an American flag; and creating an Office of Global Food Security to oversee our food security policy and work with our land-grant universities that conduct agricultural research. I was proud to vote for this package to return the department to its core mission of protecting and championing America’s interests and security abroad, and I look forward to this passing in the full U.S. House soon.”

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