Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would reduce the salary of the deputy chief executive officer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media to $1.

The deputy chief executive officer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media is also responsible for rehiring Setareh Sieg, who knowingly misused taxpayer dollars and lied on her resume.

Whistleblowers come forward to shed light on the rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars, and the deputy chief executive officer at the U.S. Agency for Global Media is responsible for rehiring the individual that did so.

There should be no place for this conduct in public service, and I am requesting the salary of the deputy chief executive officer at U.S. Global Media to be reduced to $1.

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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chair, if misusing public Federal tax dollars is part of our policy, I suggest to you that we need to get a new policy.

This is what is wrong with this country. It is wrong when we tell our children, well, it is okay for these folks up here to steal because they are in the Federal Government. That is why nobody trusts us up here.

We can cover this up with flowing words, but the reality is it is wrong to knowingly misuse Federal tax dollars.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chairman, this amendment does one thing, it would prohibit funding for the Art in Embassies program. At a time when the government is nearing a shutdown, we don't need the State Department spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on paintings and sculptures.

During the shutdown at the end of 2018, the State Department spent $84,000 on a Bob Dylan sculpture.

Mr. Chair, I submit to you, I did not know Bob Dylan was a sculptor, his real name is Bobby Zimmerman. He did have a song out when he became a Christian for a while that was called ``Gotta Serve Somebody.'' We need to be serving the taxpayers up here, and obviously we are not.

We are $33 trillion in debt. The State Department can continue its work without expensive art throughout our embassies. The government needs to cut its budget, and there is no better place to start than on unnecessary and high-priced art galleries for the State Department.

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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chair, I submit to you what is disingenuous is the fact that most of this art is never viewed by the public or the people coming in. It is put in the embassy back offices. It is not out front. It doesn't show anything about this country other than we are hiding this stuff in the back for the well-placed embassy employees, and the rank-and-file ones never even see it.

I submit to you this is obviously another boondoggle. We need to start somewhere. This is a good start, Mr. Chair. I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chair, this amendment does one thing: It prohibits funding for the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

This envoy has provided no discernible value to the American people. I remind you, he is nonelected. I don't believe he was even confirmed by the Senate, but Secretary Kerry uses his position in this special envoy to fly around the world in private and heavy-polluting jets so he can attend the coronation of King Charles III on the taxpayers' dime.

Somebody please remind me how this is helping the American people or even addressing his climate concerns. I submit to you it is making them worse, according to their statistics and facts.

He recently stated the American people would need to contribute trillions of dollars to fix the climate. Trillions of dollars. Mr. Chair, this is nonsense. This special envoy should not exist. I am asking to prohibit any funds for it.

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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chair, I submit to you that having a multimillionaire fly around in a private jet does very little for the image of global climate issues. I also submit to you that he has no scientific background. He has not been elected nor has he even been ordained by our U.S. Senate. I submit to you that this is not a good issue, and tying the hands of this country while the folks in India, China, and some of these other countries continue to pollute, to me, is counterproductive.

Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), my friend.

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Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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