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That proposal "ain't happening," Graham, chairman of the Senate
Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department,
declared at the opening of the hearing with Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the top subcommittee Democrat, said the
administration has proposed "damaging funding cuts, with little
to no logical explanation."
The Trump administration requested about $40 billion to fund the
State Department and its aid arm, the United States Agency for
International Development, for the fiscal year starting in
October.
Pompeo noted the hearing comes days before his first anniversary
as Trump's second secretary of state. Graham joked that Pompeo
was the longest-serving member of Trump's cabinet, referring to
the high turnover of senior-level staff at the White House.
Pompeo smiled but did not reply.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stepped down this
week in the latest high-profile resignation, and Trump said on
Monday he would replace the head of the U.S. Secret Service.
Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives have
also said they will reject the proposed cuts to the budget,
setting the stage for a budget battle with the White House.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Lesley Wroughton in
Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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