Steve Cohen: “Much of the debate today has addressed issues that are important but peripheral to the focus of this bill, which is the…”

“Much of the debate today has addressed issues that are important but peripheral to the focus of this bill, which is the size and organization of the State Department and associated foreign policy agencies. Going back to the Nixon administration, numerous reviews have been conducted by the Foreign Relations Committee, its House counterpart, and many executive branch-appointed groups to determine how best to streamline the array of foreign policy agencies that exist. My staff at the Oversight of Government Management has studied this issue, as well. A common theme of these reviews has been that more efficiencies can be achieved, and this probably should include the merging of some existing agencies. The conference report now before the Senate directs, in essence, the elimination of at least one of three agencies--the Agency for International Development [AID], the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA], or the U.S. Information Agency [USIA]--with primary focus on AID and ACDA.”