Chris Van Hollen: “We are fortunate indeed to have hundreds of men and women working for the State Department here and around the world who…”

“We are fortunate indeed to have hundreds of men and women working for the State Department here and around the world who have dedicated their lives to public service and are committed to serving our country at home and abroad. These public servants had been recently subjected to outrageous and unwarranted attacks by the former Speaker of this House, Newt Gingrich. In a scurrilous article in the current issue of Foreign Policy, entitled Rogue State Department, and in an earlier speech he gave before the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gingrich accuses the men and women of the State Department of nothing less than undermining the status and respect of the United States around the world. In his article, Mr. Gingrich asserts that the cause of rising anti-American sentiment around the world is that the men and women of the State Department have 'abdicated values and principles in favor of accommodation and passivity.'”