Chair questions State Department budget cuts, PEPFAR changes and expiring humanitarian supplies

Deputy Secretary Michael Regas told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Department of State is $28.5 billion, a reduction the witness described as aligning foreign assistance to "core interests of the American people." He said the proposed total is "a decrease of $25,900,000,000 or 48% below the FY25 appropriations."

Regas and other witnesses framed reform of foreign assistance as a shift toward the secretary's stated "America First" priorities. Regas said the administration proposes a new "America First Opportunity Fund" to centralize discretionary foreign assistance at the State Department, with the secretary exercising control and public accountability over disbursements.

Committee members from both parties pressed Regas on the consequences of reductions. Ranking Member Meeks and others argued that the planned cutbacks risk hollowing out diplomatic capacity and public-health programs. Regas said life‑saving humanitarian assistance (for example, emergency food and medical aid) was exempted from the administration's broader foreign assistance review, but he acknowledged other programmatic and administrative reductions.

Members repeatedly raised the fate of specific programs and supplies. Representatives cited PEPFAR — the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — and asked about transition planning for partner-country ownership. Regas said the administration proposes funding adjustments for PEPFAR tied to "graduation" where countries can assume program costs; he described an example that about 85% of direct-care PEPFAR funds were included in the request, while administrative nondirect-care funds would see larger reductions.

Several members pressed Regas about reports that hundreds of metric tons of emergency food and therapeutic nutrition products — including ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) — were sitting in warehouses and at risk of expiring. Representative McGovern, among others, said food purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars was set to be incinerated and asked what plan the department had to move stock to people in need. Regas said he would investigate and repeated the government's policy not to distribute expired food or medicine.

Questions also touched on Gaza: members asked about a $30 million grant to a newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and whether required counterterrorism and anti‑fraud reviews had been waived to accelerate that award. Regas said he was not familiar with the specific grant and would look into it.

Lawmakers sought clarity on oversight controls for the proposed America First Opportunity Fund and requested written descriptions of the fund's guardrails, inspectors-general authority and congressional reporting. Regas pointed to public accountability and inspector-general oversight, and promised additional briefings and documents for the committee.

The hearing showed a sharp divide over the scope of foreign assistance: advocates and many former officials argued that development and health programs provide strategic returns and protect U.S. interests, while the administration and some members emphasized tighter linking of aid to direct U.S. national-interest outcomes.