Senate panel grills State Department on reorganization, layoffs and transfer of foreign aid to State

Deputy Secretary Regas defended the Trump administration's State Department reorganization and its fiscal 2026 budget request before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, while senators from both parties pressed for documentation, raised national‑security and humanitarian concerns, and described chaotic executions of reductions in force.

Regas, the department's deputy secretary for management and resources, told the committee the administration's FY2026 request is $28,500,000,000 and represented a 48 percent reduction from FY2025, and said the reorganization will consolidate the department's domestic footprint, merge or eliminate nearly 45 percent of domestic offices and move foreign assistance administration from USAID into State. "As of July 1, USAID no longer implements foreign assistance," he said.

Why it matters: senators said the timing and implementation of cuts — including a reduction in force (RIF) that affected about 1,300 positions — risks hollowing out critical expertise in diplomacy, consular services, counterterrorism and other technical areas; undermines U.S. influence while competitors expand; and, in one high‑profile example, is entangled with an unresolved question about food purchased with U.S. funds that may be expiring in overseas warehouses.

Regas framed…