The House Foreign Affairs Committee is responsible for oversight and legislation relating to:
- Foreign assistance - including development assistance, Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Account, HIV/AIDS in foreign countries, security assistance, and Public Law 480 programs abroad
- National security developments affecting foreign policy
- Strategic planning and agreements
- War powers, treaties, executive agreements, and the deployment and use of United States Armed Forces
- Peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and enforcement of United Nations or other international sanctions
- Arms control and disarmament issues
- The International Development Finance Corporation, the United States Agency for International Development
- Activities and policies of the State, Commerce, and Defense Departments and other agencies related to the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign assistance Act, including export and licensing policy for munitions items and technology and dual-use equipment and technology
- International law
- Promotion of democracy
- International law enforcement issues, including narcotics control programs and activities
- International cyber issues
- U.S. Agency for Global Media
- Embassy security; international broadcasting
- Public diplomacy, including international communication and information policy, and international education and exchange programs; and all other matters not specifically assigned to a subcommittee.
- The Export Administration Act, including the export and licensing of dual-use equipment and technology and other matters related to international economic policy and trade not otherwise assigned to a subcommittee, and with respect to the United Nations, its affiliated agencies, and other international organizations, including assessed and voluntary contributions to such organizations.
Congressman, you were able to sit through this and listen to it with us.
Elon Musk says he is showing his work and we should trust him. Do you?
No. Look, there's a way to trust. Bring it down to the Capitol.
Let's have hearings on it. Show us.
We have oversight responsibility. That's the job of Congress.
It's separate branches of government. That's what democracy is about.
Not just the executive. The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
I have requested of the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Bring individuals down from the government.
Bring Elon Musk or anybody from DOGE there.
Let's see. And let's talk about what's taking place.
Let's have them answer questions and present facts or evidence and show us.
I think that's the way to do this.
When Biden was the President, then Chair McCaul, he constantly subpoenaed
the State Department, USAID, and people came down
and they testified before us, and all of the members of the Congress
were able to utilize and do their oversight responsibilities.
What is happening now, it's like: you have a king and you have his person,
and they're telling the people, this is what the deal is.
Their argument, Congressman, is that this is what the American people voted for.
That Elon Musk, I mean, he was and I could attest to this.
He was a key surrogate for Donald Trump. They were out on the campaign
trail saying, we want to move fast and break things.
Basically, we want to come in and fundamentally change how government works.
Why shouldn't they be doing that?
Look, what they should be doing. If you're talking about what he campaigned for,
was that food prices would go down,
that gas prices would go down, that the inflation rate would go down.
You don't buy the argument that by getting the deficit down, you can get the inflation down?
No. Because look what they're doing also at the same time
he's talking about taking over Gaza, taking over Greenland, taking over Panama.
All this has to be paid for.
There's been no mention with the federal payments that you want to give
to where that money is going to come from.
And the proof of the fact of the matter is, under the first Trump Administration,
when you look at the deficit, it grew greater than any other President ever.
So there's no track record by this President when he was the former
President, that he knows anything about deficit reduction.
In fact, what the evidence- if you want to see what that really shows,
is everything that he's talked about benefits
those top oligarchs that were at the inauguration,
they and these tax cuts that he wants to create, not to bring down the deficit,
but to make sure that the oligarchs like Elon Musk make more money,
the average everyday American, they get nothing out of this deal.
When you hear Elon Musk say, we're going to make mistakes,
we want to be called out on it. We want to try to fix it.
Does that give you any optimism for things like so many of these programs
that USAID have run that have been canceled, might be able to be restored
at some of the damage that has been done over the last two weeks could be reversed.
We have food imports right now wasting that should be giving to folks.
Millions of dollars lost.
I get emails on a regular basis. One just yesterday he’s stuck in Lebanon, told that he can't do nothing.
All of the work has shut down.
His kids and family’s in Kenya because he's at a sold spot.
Nothing is happening there. 93 missions have been shut down around the world. 93.
Nothing is there. No one is there.
So individuals who are Americans and who have worked for us are at bay.
They don't know what's happening.
You know what it does? It hurts our national security.
China and Russia are chomping at the bit.
They're waiting to get in there where we leave out,
because these individuals will have nowhere to go.
So if you're going to investigate this, you don't shut down 93 missions.
You don't forget about national security,
which is at stake here when we abandon these missions.
