Mass State Department Layoffs

Floor Speech

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Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, our National Archivist, our National Security Advisor, and our USAID Administrator took some time off from his work in these full-time positions to exercise his additional powers as Secretary of State of the United States.

The guy with four Federal jobs fired, en masse, more than 1,300 professional civil servants at the State Department, each of them doing just one job and, in general, doing it in an exemplary and excellent way. They have devoted their careers to America and America's role in the world.

Yet, Secretary, Archivist, National Security Advisor, USAID Administrator Rubio has robbed America of centuries of their expertise for no apparent reason at all. This destruction of the American role in the world comes as China is bolstering its soft power everywhere.

This is a giant blow to our national security and effectiveness in the world.

I express gratitude to the patriotic men and women at the State Department, many of them my constituents, for their decades of service, and I affirm our enduring commitment to the values they have worked so hard to advance.

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