WASHINGTON - In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Vice Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Subcommittee Members Grace Meng (D-NY), David Price (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL) and Norma Torres (D-CA) urged the Trump Administration to suspend their decision to pause all diversity and inclusion training at State Department and USAID.
“We write to express our deep concern regarding the Department of State’s and U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) decision to pause all training programs related to diversity and inclusion," the lawmakers wrote. “Given the Department’s longstanding challenges to expand opportunities for people of color in its workforce, the Department should be expanding all programs with a demonstrated contribution to strengthening diversity, including training. We request that you rescind this decision immediately and allow all diversity training in the Department and USAID to continue."
The letter notes the longstanding support the Committee has demonstrated for the State Department and USAID to expand workforce diversity and to report on the status of these efforts and explains that the Trump administration’s order abandons this Congressionally-mandated mission.
“Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Department has continually failed to reflect all of America in its hiring and promotions," the lawmakers wrote. “Among the GAO’s findings: The proportion of racial and ethnic minority employees in the Department’s workforce increased only modestly over the sixteen-year period from 2002 to 2018, while the proportion of minority employees in the Civil Service decreased. Between 2002 and 2018, the percentage of African Americans working at the Department declined from 17% to 15%."
Finally, the lawmakers also emphasized the negative impact a lack of diversity has on our citizenry as a whole and the ability to pursue our national interests.
“When whole classes of Americans don’t see themselves in the image the United States presents abroad, they feel alienated from their own government," the lawmakers noted. “Similarly, the rest of the world is presented with a distorted vision of who America is and what we stand for."
The full text of the letter is below. A PDF copy is available.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
