White House proposes drastic cuts to State Department and funding for
UN, NATO and other groups
[April 15, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE and FARNOUSH AMIRI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has
proposed gutting the State Department’s budget by almost 50%, closing a
number of overseas diplomatic missions, slashing the number of
diplomatic staff, and eliminating funding for nearly all international
organizations, including the United Nations, many of its agencies and
for NATO headquarters, officials said.
The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and
is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster
with either the department’s leadership or Congress, which will
ultimately be asked to vote on the entire federal budget in the coming
months.
Officials familiar with the proposal say it must still go through
several rounds of review before it even gets to lawmakers, who in the
past have amended and even rejected White House budget requests. Though
the proposal is preliminary, it gives an indication of the Trump
administration's priorities and coincides with massive job and funding
cuts across the federal government, from Health and Human Services and
the Education Department to the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
Notes from an internal meeting about the proposal have been circulated
in online chat groups among foreign service officers since the weekend
but exploded Monday when the State Department was due to present a
separate unrelated reorganization plan to the OMB.
One senior U.S. official familiar with the OMB proposal called it
“aggressive” in terms of cost-cutting, but also stressed that it was an
early outline that mirrored what OMB chief Russell Vought sought to do
in President Donald Trump’s first administration when he served in the
same job. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
internal administration deliberations.
So did two people familiar with the matter who confirmed the proposal,
one of whom also said it originated from OMB.
OMB spokesperson Alexandra McCandless said that “no final funding
decisions have been made.” The National Security Council did not respond
to a request for comment on the proposed cuts.
OMB’s efforts to severely reduce the State Department’s budget during
Trump’s first term were met with fierce resistance on Capitol Hill and
largely failed.
However, Trump’s second administration has moved swiftly to scale back
the federal government, slashing jobs and funding across agencies. It's
already dismantled USAID and moved to defund so-called other “soft
power” institutions of foreign policy importance like the Voice of
America, Radio Free Europe, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio
Free Asia and Radio/TV Marti, which broadcasts to Cuba.
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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting on the
sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in
Brussels, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Nicolas Tucat, Pool Photo via AP)
Thus, State Department officials and others have expressed increasing
concern about the possibility that the proposed drastic cuts could
actually be implemented.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said she was “deeply troubled” by the
proposed cuts.
“When America First becomes America Alone, our economy, security and
prosperity will suffer as adversaries fill the void the Trump
Administration leaves behind," Shaheen said in a statement. “Investments
in diplomatic programs that promote peace and stability, and advance
American national security interests are commonsense priorities that
should be reflected in the State Department’s budget request.”
According to the notes from the internal State Department meeting, the
budget proposal calls for:
— Halving foreign assistance funding managed by State and the U.S.
Agency for International Development, which stood at $52 billion in
2024.
— Eliminating more than a quarter of foreign assistance through State
and USAID overall, freeze pay through next year, and cut travel and
benefits for U.S. foreign service staffers.
— Eliminating global health funding other than small amounts for HIV,
tuberculosis and malaria. Require global health partners to contribute a
bigger share.
— Eliminating funding to the United Nations, a major logistical partner
key to many humanitarian efforts around the world, and other major
nongovernment organizations, including NATO.
— Eliminating the main office helping Afghan allies resettle in other
countries to escape Taliban rule.
— Eliminating the government’s independent watchdog office looking for
waste and inefficiency in U.S. programs in Afghanistan.
— Cutting a number of refugee and immigration programs, and move them
under a new bureau for international humanitarian affairs.
___
Amiri reported from the United Nations. AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer
contributed from Washington.
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