Members and witnesses warn State Department and USAID staffing cuts, aid freezes risk U.S. security and influence

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and witnesses at a reauthorization hearing warned that recent personnel reductions and frozen foreign assistance programs risked U.S. national-security interests and influence in Europe.

Representative Dina Titus (D-Nev.), citing reporting and staff briefings at the State Department, called proposed and executed layoffs “willful and malicious” and said they threaten programs that provide health services, election support and anti-corruption assistance abroad. “This has resulted in thousands of federal employees being fired,” Titus said, and she noted a circulating list of about 700 civil servants who could be dismissed and nearly 700 resignations in the last two months.

Witnesses and members connected staffing and funding choices to concrete policy outcomes. Ambassador James O’Brien said the specialized expertise in ISN and ADS is “second to none” for efforts such as restricting bad actors’ access to advanced technologies, enforcing sanctions and implementing ceasefires. He pointed to a recent enforcement effort that targeted an unregulated “shadow fleet” of tankers as an example in which bureau expertise and interagency work had enabled action.

Members also tied workforce and funding changes to decreases in U.S. ability to support partner countries. Representative William Keating and others said cuts to USAID and other foreign-assistance lines hinder Ukraine’s reconstruction and energy resilience and give leverage to Russia and China in Moldova and parts of the Western Balkans. Representative Titus listed several democracy and governance programs that she said have been eliminated or frozen, including support for Belarusian democratic leaders in exile, election monitoring in Kosovo, media development in Moldova and anti-corruption and energy programs in the Balkans.

Budget figures and program sizes were discussed but not always fully documented in oral testimony. The hearing record contains several numerical references: a past Marshall Plan figure cited as $13,000,000,000 in historical investments to Europe; a USAID agriculture program for Ukraine referenced at about $350,000,000; and witness comments that a supplemental appropriation for Ukraine had involved more than $30,000,000,000 in U.S. company contracts. Members said they intend to pursue further oversight, including requests for GAO reports and written agency responses, to trace how appropriated funds have been spent and whether statutory conditions were met.

The subcommittee did not vote on any measures at the hearing. Members and witnesses urged the committee to pair reauthorization language with oversight steps to preserve technical expertise, ensure accountability for assistance dollars and mitigate the security implications of personnel and program reductions.