The U.S. House of Representatives is beginning work on a bill to reauthorize and reorganize the State Department, signaling that Congress plans to weigh in on the department’s future even as the White House barrels towards the July 1 deadline it set to restructure State.
A “draft organizational chart” put together by the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee — and obtained by Devex — includes a number of key differences from the one that Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed in a congressional notification last week, and a reshuffling of where foreign aid priorities such as global food security would sit.
But a committee spokesperson told Devex the draft chart was just an “illustrative tool,” and that it should not be considered “a final version of anything.”
About the authors
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
