House Foreign Affairs Committee Advances Bipartisan State Department Reauthorization 

September 18, 2025
Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed its comprehensive bipartisan State Department Reauthorization package.

This legislation, consisting of nine separate bills, is the result of nine months of open, transparent, and bipartisan work, with over 2,300 member priorities. The package of legislation sets a clear accountability structure to ensure every dollar and every diplomat puts America First.

The package, which now advances toward a House floor vote, fulfills House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast’s commitment to reestablish command and control of the State Department and ensure our nation’s diplomats have the tools they need to meet the demands of the future.  

By reauthorizing the State Department, the committee has set a powerful precedent–one that future Congresses can follow to ensure continued accountability for the American people.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said:

"As Chairman, I made a promise to restore command and control-and this legislation delivers. It ensures every dollar and every diplomat puts America First and is accountable to the president's foreign policy. It also prevents ideologues masquerading as diplomats from using their posts to push left-wing agendas instead of America's interests. This bill is not just a reform for today, it is a lasting framework that will strengthen the State Department and benefit every commander-in-chief who follows."

Africa Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-04) said:

"I strongly support the Trump Administration’s modernization of the Department of State with its rigorous oversight, visionary strategy, and life-enhancing management of funds. With the passage of Chairman Mast’s State Department Reauthorization, I am encouraged that we are finally on the path to ending this misuse of critically needed humanitarian assistance and redirecting it to local, faith-based organizations with the history, networks, and competence to deliver real, life-affirming, and sustainable assistance on the ground. I have always stood firmly behind lifesaving aid, and that has not changed. In fact, this administration is more committed than any other to ensuring that such aid is effective—developing new models of engagement that strengthen local economies, promote peace, root out malign actors, honor the sanctity of human life, and invest in nations’ prosperous futures—promoting true U.S. ideals abroad."

East Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Young Kim (CA-40) said:

"As Xi Jinping, Putin, Kim Jong Un, and the Ayatollahs join forces to challenge the rules-based international order, America cannot allow bureaucratic inefficiencies to silo our strength. Now more than ever, the U.S. State Department must be equipped to lead America's diplomacy and economic statecraft globally. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has worked diligently towards accomplishing this since the start of this year, and my subcommittee has prioritized putting economic statecraft at the core of our foreign policy-championing American businesses, countering predatory trade practices from our adversaries, and reinforcing that economic security is national security. I'm proud to support this effort to modernize our diplomacy, cut waste, and counter 21st century threats in the Indo-Pacific and beyond."  

Europe Subcommittee Chairman Keith Self (TX-03) said:  

"The Department of State grew into a massive bureaucracy where nearly 80% of the agency has been operating without proper Congressional authorization. Under Chairman Mast's bold leadership, Congress is once again asserting its responsibility over the reauthorization of the Department of State.  These important measures will streamline the Department and empower Secretary Rubio to operate more effectively and help give President Trump the necessary tools to assert peace through strength."

Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee Chairman Michael Lawler (NY-17) said:  

"For the first time in more than two decades, Congress is exercising its full responsibility to reauthorize the State Department. As Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa subcommittee which also has jurisdiction over counterterrorism and State Department management, I've introduced and supported numerous measures included in this package. Our diplomats and our taxpayers deserve a State Department that is more effective, stronger, and laser-focused on advancing American interests. I am proud to join Chairman Mast and my colleagues in moving this critical legislation forward."

Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman Cory Mills (FL-07) said:

"Having worked for the State Department I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. When Chairman Mast first convened the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he said that every dollar and every diplomat must put the United States of America First. He meant it and that's what we're doing with this bill. I'm grateful for his relentless efforts to fully reauthorize the State Department for the first time in decades and thank him for trusting me to Chair the Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee, so that we can stand shoulder to shoulder and get this done for America."

South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (MI-04) said:  

"This bill finally puts public diplomacy where it belongs-at the center of American statecraft. It gives the Under Secretary clear authority and a strategic mission, aligns educational and cultural exchanges with strategy, and builds a strategic communications arm that can take on propaganda and censorship head-on. The United States cannot afford to play defense in the global information space-we need to lead with facts, freedom, and truth."

Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27) said:

"I'm proud to support the State Department Reauthorization Act, which sharpens our diplomacy to crush tyranny. Thanks to the united vision of Secretary Rubio, President Trump, and the Foreign Affairs Committee's GOP strategy, we are finally prioritizing our hemisphere by countering corrupt regimes, like those in Venezuela and Cuba, that empower radical terrorists, flood our borders with drugs, and sow crime and instability. As Chairwoman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, I'm determined to ensure every dollar advances America's top strategic and diplomatic objectives. In our hemisphere, that means bolstering democratic allies, showing no mercy toward our enemies and thwarting malign influences. This reauthorization will be a vital part of advancing those efforts, and to securing freedom from Miami to Managua."

 

Key Takeaways:

The legislation builds upon President Trump and Secretary Rubio's bold, decisive reforms at the State Department and further ensures that, going forward, the president has the tools needed to execute foreign policy objectives on behalf of the American people.

This full reauthorization will fix America's broken State Department, restore command and control, and ensure every dollar and diplomat puts America First. It will eliminate more than 400 onerous reporting requirements that cost millions of dollars and take our diplomats' time and attention away from their core mission. It will also ensure diplomats are armed with the tools needed to meet the demands of an evolving national security landscape.  

Restoring Command and Control:

  • Reinforces the State Department's authority over all public diplomacy functions-aligning personnel, budgets, and regional teams worldwide under a single chain of command to ensure U.S. messages are unified, integrated, disciplined, and strategically directed.
  • Bureaus and offices are given clear guidance on their functions and linked in ways that reduce overlap, increase efficiency, and implement the President's statement that economic policy is foreign policy and economic security is national security.
  • Creates an Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance to bring responsibility for all foreign aid programs under one authority.

Restoring Accountability:

  • Requires a Global Public Diplomacy Strategy with annual reports to Congress, including clear metrics, benchmarks, and adversary-response assessments.
  • Enforces results-based management across educational and cultural exchanges, aligning them to strategic priorities and foreign policy outcomes.
  • Ensures the highest level of efficiency, accountability, and forward-looking vision in how the State Department conducts international security policy.

Reauthorization Provisions:

  • Makes public diplomacy a strategic instrument of statecraft.
  • Integrates Educational and Cultural Affairs into public diplomacy and aligns it with U.S. strategic priorities.
  • Authorizes the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs, providing a range of roles for the position that include arms control, political-military affairs, international counterterrorism, transnational organized crime, addressing emerging threats, and more.
  • Puts the State Department to work for American businesses. The new Commercial Diplomacy Bureau at the State Department will champion U.S. businesses overseas and combat unfair trade practices.
  • Creates a Bureau of Strategic Communications to counter authoritarian propaganda and expand access to truth.
  • Authorizes the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and outlines responsibilities as the U.S. Permanent Representative in New York as well as other representatives globally.
  • Establishes within the State Department an Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, responsible for providing strategic direction as well as policy and programmatic oversight of funds and bureaus under their jurisdiction.
  • Creates a Director of United States Foreign Assistance Oversight and an Office of Foreign Assistance, defining their responsibilities, functions, and reporting obligations.
  • Creates a new Sanctions Policy Bureau, replacing and expanding the smaller role of the Office of the Sanctions Coordinator.  The creation of the bureau integrates sanctions activities from other offices across the Department and directs the Assistant Secretary for Sanctions Policy to lead State's sanctions programs and coordinate with other agencies and allies to advance U.S. interests through sanctions policy.
  • Authorizes critical areas of international security including the Bureaus of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Political-Military Affairs, Counterterrorism, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, and Emerging Threats.
  • Establishes a pilot program within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to facilitate the recruitment, training, and hiring of transitioning service members and veterans into positions within the Bureau.
  • Authorizes the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs who represents the tip of the spear of United States security efforts on the international stage.
  • Ensures the United States leads-not reacts-in the global information space.
  • Ensures that the State Department has the necessary diplomatic and security tools to counter a range of sophisticated foreign adversaries and meet the ever-evolving security challenges of tomorrow.
  • Authorizes State Department to prioritize American-made procurements.
     

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