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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26) wrote an op-ed for the Washington Examinerregarding his State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs funding bill for fiscal year 2025. This crucial piece of legislation, which funds our national security and foreign policy priorities, cuts wasteful spending while upholding key U.S. values. Among the many victories, it includes an 11% cut from the fiscal year 2024 enacted levels and will continue reestablishing American leadership where it has been severely lacking under the Biden-Harris Administration.
Washington Examiner
Op-ed: Mario Díaz-Balart
September 10, 2024
Read the full op-ed here:
In the Biden-Harris economy, Americans have to do more with less while eliminating nonessentials. The government can do the same.
As chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee, which is responsible for funding our national security and foreign policy priorities, I have taken a scalpel to government spending. The SFOPS bill for fiscal 2025 cuts an unprecedented 11% on top of the cuts included in last year's bill, which is now law. With these cuts, we would save American taxpayers $7.6 billion over the next fiscal year.
Prioritizing national security must be the paramount guiding principle in determining our foreign affairs budget. But when Americans entrust us with their hard-earned tax dollars, we must always ask the tough questions.
Does providing billions to support a radical climate change agenda without measurable results, which depends on manufacturing that occurs in communist China, further national security?
Does funding the antisemitic, anti-American United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which employs Hamas terrorists and propagates hatred against Jews, promote our values?
Does sending millions to the so-called United Nations Human Rights Council, which includes Cuba, China, and other regimes with some of the world's worst human rights records, advance our national security?
Does funding non-governmental organizations that facilitate illegal immigration to our southern border benefit hard-working American families?
What about funding overseas abortions and transgender procedures?
Does providing funding for labs controlled by adversarial regimes in Iran, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, or North Korea make sense?
Does funding a misguided Iran deal that weakens sanctions without approval by Congress and funds special envoys that have neither been authorized by Congress nor confirmed by the Senate promote our national security?
I believe the answer to all these questions is a resounding "no." As I have said repeatedly, if you are a friend or ally of the United States, then the SFOPS bill supports you. However, if you are an enemy or an adversary of the United States, then the likelihood is you will not like this bill.
The fiscal 2025 SFOPS bill would support our friends and allies that help advance our joint national security interests. For example, the bill fully funds the Memorandum of Understanding with Israel at $3.3 billion. It encourages the State Department to use its resources to support the Abraham Accords and to secure the return of the hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7. The bill also requires vetting of funded NGOs to ensure they do not participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The bill also provides $2.1 billion to advance U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific, helping our allies in Asia counter increasing Chinese aggression in the region. The bill provides $400 million to the Countering PRC Influence Fund and $500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan for self-defense from communist China. It also supports pro-American democracies in our hemisphere, such as Panama and Costa Rica, and requires foreign energy support to be directed toward European allies working to become independent of Russian energy.
I have long been a fierce proponent of democracy assistance, which supports courageous freedom activists in the most repressed corners of the globe. They and their oppressors should know that America stands with those in the struggle for freedom. However, we must be smart about it.
In Venezuela, for example, the people are doing all they can to oust their dictator, President Nicolas Maduro, along with his thugs and the Cuban intelligence agents supporting him, after he upended the country's democratic election in July. The fiscal 2025 SFOPS bill provides $50 million for promoting democratic change in Venezuela, but the bill conditions funding on reestablishing democracy and freedom in Venezuela.
While I strongly support U.S. assistance for the cause of freedom, I do not support squandering U.S. taxpayer dollars on unilateral concessions to brutal dictatorships or paths that have no hope of advancing genuine democratic change.
The bill also provides $35 million for democracy assistance to Cuba to support human rights and former political prisoners, plus an additional $35 million to provide outside, objective information through the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
We can achieve all of this and more while still spending 11% less than the previous year. Gone are the days of blank checks and blind acquiescence to the status quo. Under my watch, I will work to ensure a foreign policy that promotes our key national security interests, supports our allies in confronting mutual adversaries, and stands with those struggling for freedom.
This crucial bill, H.R.8771, was passed by the House in June. I urge you to read the text, learn how it advances our priorities, and work with me to ensure these important provisions are approved by the Senate and signed into law.
Mario Díaz-Balart is a U.S. representative for Florida's 26th Congressional District, a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations and chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee.
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