He’s the first former oil executive to run Foggy Bottom, but Rex W. Tillerson also is proving to be an unconventional Cabinet pick in another way — as the guy who doesn’t mind having his department’s budget slashed.
The new secretary of state sent shock waves through the State Department’s back hallways last week by throwing his support behind President Trump’s first fiscal blueprint, which reserves its deepest cuts for America’s diplomatic and foreign aid programs.
While conservative hard-liners say it’s about time for State to rein in spending on items such as climate change and gay rights, many Republicans, including highly influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill, are outraged at the proposed 28 percent slash to the department’s budget.
Critics wasted little time lambasting Mr. Tillerson’s surprise assertion Thursday that State’s current funding levels are “simply not sustainable,” setting the stage for what will be a heated debate over the value of diplomacy and other “soft power” tools that Mr. Trump and his supporters repeatedly have derided.
Rep. Edward R. Royce, California Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has questioned the wisdom of slashing State and U.S. Agency for International Development programs in the Middle East and other places when the military battle against the Islamic State is finally bearing fruit.
“I am very concerned that deep cuts to our diplomacy will hurt efforts to combat terrorism [and] distribute critical humanitarian aid,” Mr. Royce said. “Especially when the U.S. is fighting ISIS and millions are at risk of starvation around the world.”
