Schatz Announces Blanket Holds on Trump’s State Department Nominees Until Attack on USAID Is Reversed

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, today announced that he will place a blanket hold on all of President Donald Trump’s nominees to the State Department until its illegal attempt to shutter the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency is reversed. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he would be acting administrator of USAID.

“Dismantling USAID is illegal and makes us less safe. USAID was created by federal law and is funded by Congress. Donald Trump and Elon Musk can’t just wish it away with a stroke of a pen – they need to pass a law,” said Senator Schatz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration’s State Department nominees. This is self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world.”

Schatz spoke out against attacks on USAID today in front of its Washington headquarters.

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