WASHINGTON – Congressional delays in passing spending and other legislation undermines U.S. positioning on the global stage and invigorates “competitors,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Foreign Service Institute on Wednesday.
“Look, if we’re serious about U.S. leadership in the world, we can’t keep operating without knowing whether we’ll have a budget for the next fiscal year, forcing us to impose harmful cuts and hiring freezes,” he said. “We can’t reduce our investments in international financial institutions…we can’t fail to pay our dues at the UN and cede the space to our competitors.”
Last month, Congress failed to pass an annual budget and narrowly avoided a looming partial government shutdown by introducing a stopgap spending bill—known as a continuing resolution—that temporarily funds the government until it expires in mid-December.
It was the latest in a series of near-shutdowns over the past few years. In September 2023, for example, Congress averted the shutdown by mere hours.
But the problem extends beyond budget logjams, according to Blinken. Congress has moved too slowly to confirm the nominations of some high-profile positions, causing a significant increase in time spent between personnel nominations and confirmations.
“We can’t hold up the confirmation of highly skilled, capable and patriotic Americans, sometimes for years, at a time when they should be leading our members overseas,” he said. “In 2001, on average, nominees were confirmed 50 days after their nomination; today, nominees—including our ambassadors—are waiting an average of 240 days.”
Such holdups undermine U.S. diplomatic efforts and embolden adversaries, Blinken warned.
“It’s damaging our diplomacy, it’s undermining our competitiveness, it’s disincentivizing public service, and of course, this all feeds our competitors’ false narratives of our decline and division,” he said. “It reinforces their conviction—false conviction—that now is the time to challenge the United States and pursue their revisionist goals.”
Earlier in the speech, Blinken noted the Department of State received “historic budget increases” from Congress, allowing the body to have more people in the Foreign Service than ever before.
The remarks at the Foreign Service Institute come a month after the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to recommend that Blinken be held in contempt of Congress amid a standoff over his testimony about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
