Anne Slanders

This is a transcript of Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking Foreign Relations committee member to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a hearing on May 26, 2025. 

Four months ago, you sat in that chair, and you said that China is, quote, the most potent and dangerous near peer adversary, this nation has ever confronted. You called China an industrial competitor. An economic competitor. A geopolitical competitor. It's a scientific competitor.  

I believe you were right. And yet, this administration has eviscerated six decades of American foreign policy investments, undercutting our ability to compete with adversaries like China. And Beijing is not just sitting back. As Elon Musk took a chainsaw to USAID, and you propose cutting 83% of foreign assistance programs, China has promised increasing its diplomatic budget by 8.4%. 

As we move to reduce our diplomatic workforce and discuss closing US embassies, China has more diplomatic missions than any other nation on earth. And as the US canceled PEPFAR, our most successful program fighting HIV/AIDS, China has been happy to replace our global health efforts across Africa and Asia. 

As this administration distracts from serious national security issues with threats against Panama and Greenland, Xi Jin Ping has welcomed Brazil's President and other Latin-American leaders pledging more than $9 billion in investments. 

And as the US has shuttered Voice of America and Radio Free Asia and crippled the state department's ability to counter foreign propaganda, China pours billions into propaganda, spreading lies and eroding trust in the US. As this administration imposes tariffs on our closest allies, China is courting them in Europe, in Asia and in our own hemisphere. 

Beijing is making the case, but that they are, and the term they are using is frightening, They are a more reliable partner than the United States. And it's not just our allies. 

Xi Jin Ping is deepening ties with Putin, shielding the Russian economy from sanctions. Because of that, and because President Trump has given away our leverage, Putin doesn't feel pressured to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

And for all the administration's talk, for all Elon Musk's promises, according to reports, DOGE has not saved a dime. CBS News reports that the federal government has spent $200 billion more in its first 100 days, than it did last year.  And according to the Partnership for Public Service,  DOGE's cuts might cost American taxpayers $135 billion this year. This in addition to the cost to American families and businesses stemming from the president's trade war. 

I recently met with a New Hampshire company that provides ball bearings to the aerospace industry. They do a lot of their business with defense. 

Their lead time for steel has gone from 20 weeks to 2 and a 1/2 years because of the tariff on steel. We can't support our defense industry with a 2 and a 1/2 year lead time on steel. 

According to the Yale budget lab, consumers face an overall tariff rate of 17.8%, which is the highest since 1934. That's $2800 per household each year, and these tariffs amount to the largest tax increase during peacetime in US history. 

4 months ago, Mr. Secretary, you said we were going to be safer, stronger and more prosperous. But when it's President Trump dealing with the Sinaloa cartel to let cartel members into the United States, we're watching masked agents abduct a Tufts college student. I don't feel safer. 

With Canadians canceling summer trips to New Hampshire and hurting our tourism industry, I don't feel more prosperous. 

And after traveling to Ukraine and visiting the graves of people who were massacred on the orders of a Russian President, that this administration has bent over backwards to please, I don't feel more secure. 

To your credit Mr. Secretary, your trip and the statement from President Trump that he will be lifting sanctions on Syria was welcome news. And you've worked to restart some programs and grant waivers to others, but contrary to what we've heard, lifesaving health and humanitarian aid is still not flowing in any meaningful way. My staff was just in Africa. We have photos of the empty shelves and closed down clinics. 

We were promised a Golden Age for America, but instead our disease surveillance programs are down. Our counter-terrorism programs are in chaos. The ceasefire in Gaza has ended and fighting has begun again, and we have unilaterally disarmed against some of our most dangerous adversaries. 

You know, one of the things that I'll never forget in the past 4 months is my trip to Ukraine where we stopped in Poland, which has been one of the most pro-American countries in the world. But because of the cuts and the stop work orders, we met with one civil society leader, who was working with Ukrainian refugees. 

And he said to me, "We always looked up to Americans. You are a trusted ally. My trust in America is broken." They were told to remove all the American flags with the halt on foreign assistance.  

Removing all the American flags is a sad commentary on the foreign assistance legacy for this administration. American flags coming down around the world. 

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