Jeff Bingaman: “I have spoken here in the past expressing strong support for the initiative of this Congress to cut our Government's…”

“I have spoken here in the past expressing strong support for the initiative of this Congress to cut our Government's Federal budget deficit. But I feel just as strongly that this effort be undertaken in a sensible way that promotes economic growth where it can, and at all costs, does not actually cause the economic welfare of our citizens to worsen. One of the steps that our Government can take to both cut spending and promote economic growth would be to better leverage the investment we make in our Foreign Service officers stationed in Embassies and consulates abroad. Presently, all levels of Foreign Service officers receive language training for non-English language speaking posts to which they are sent. Our personnel assigned to nations that use Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic languages receive, at Government expense, 2 years of language training. All other language programs offered are 1-year programs. I strongly support the training of our foreign service personnel so that we have a culturally literate team of American representatives pursuing our interests abroad.”