Chairman Mast Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Department of State FY 2027 Budget Request
June 3, 2026
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast delivered opening remarks at a full committee hearing titled "Department of State FY 2027 Budget Request: A Commitment to America First Foreign Policy".
-Remarks-
Mr. Secretary, I appreciate you being here today. I know that members are eager to get to their questions, so I'll be very brief. We appreciate your attendance. I can give you a foreshadowing of what you're about to experience. My Democrat colleagues are going to sit up here and say that they haven't heard from the administration. I'm going to thank you for the 30 times just in this Congress that the State Department has briefed the full committee, the subcommittee, roundtables, and other times that you all have been here to brief us on a myriad of issues.
I want to thank you for only the over 20 briefings that you've given to Congress by yourself with General Kaine, Director Ratcliffe, Secretary Hegseth, and others since the start of Operation Epic Fury.
Some of my colleagues in here will say that we are in a war of choice with no real threat to the U.S. I want to say to you, thank you for choosing to kill those who have been attacking and killing us for over 47 years, specifically attacking us over 350 times in the 30 months prior to Operation Epic Fury.
Under senile Joe Biden, my colleagues over here voted to say, use any and all means to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. So I want to thank you for bringing the heat to Iran, even though most of my colleagues on the left now say that Iran poses no threat, they pretend as though they have never been attacking us.
I also want to thank you for the work that you've done to reset the Western Hemisphere. While you've been focused on bettering our relationships in places like Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, throughout the Gulf of America, the Biden and Blinken administration focused on funding drag shows and Ecuador and transgender operas in Colombia. I would say your work is significantly better.
So I want to thank you for the substantial change in putting America first in our foreign policy.
I want to thank you for only the over 20 briefings that you've given to Congress by yourself with General Kaine, Director Ratcliffe, Secretary Hegseth, and others since the start of Operation Epic Fury.
Some of my colleagues in here will say that we are in a war of choice with no real threat to the U.S. I want to say to you, thank you for choosing to kill those who have been attacking and killing us for over 47 years, specifically attacking us over 350 times in the 30 months prior to Operation Epic Fury.
Under senile Joe Biden, my colleagues over here voted to say, use any and all means to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. So I want to thank you for bringing the heat to Iran, even though most of my colleagues on the left now say that Iran poses no threat, they pretend as though they have never been attacking us.
I also want to thank you for the work that you've done to reset the Western Hemisphere. While you've been focused on bettering our relationships in places like Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, throughout the Gulf of America, the Biden and Blinken administration focused on funding drag shows and Ecuador and transgender operas in Colombia. I would say your work is significantly better.
So I want to thank you for the substantial change in putting America first in our foreign policy.
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