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Last week, Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a comprehensive reauthorization of the State Department. This is the first time programs at the State Department have been thoroughly reviewed and reauthorized in over 20 years. The reauthorization was comprised of eight bills including H.R. 5251, introduced by Congressman Huizenga, to modernize and reauthorize the public diplomacy arm of the State Department. H.R. 5251 passed 48-0 and was the only structural reform legislation to pass with unanimous bipartisan support. Overall, this package of bills restores both accountability and structure to the State Department while ensuring every taxpayer dollar and every diplomat puts American interests first. The reauthorization package now advances for a vote before the entire U.S. House of Representatives.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, Congressman Huizenga has jurisdiction over the public diplomacy bureau of the State Department. H.R. 5251 streamlines all public diplomacy functions and aligns personnel, budgets, and regional teams worldwide under a single chain of command. This will help ensure all U.S. messages are unified, integrated, disciplined, and strategically directed.  Additionally, H.R. 5251 requires annual reports to Congress that include clear metrics, benchmarks, and adversary-response assessments. Importantly, it also enforces results-based management across educational and cultural exchanges, aligning them with strategic priorities and foreign policy outcomes.

Huizenga remarks on H.R. 5251

• First, it empowers the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy with a clear mission: deliver facts, expose adversaries, and expand access to free information. The Under Secretary will align public diplomacy officers worldwide, chair interagency coordination, and produce a global strategy with measurable results. We are all on the same page as we are telling America’s story.

• Second, it transforms our information posture. The Bureau of Global Public Affairs, currently headed up by Assistant Secretary Michele Exner, becomes the Bureau of Strategic Communications—with a proactive mandate to counter propaganda, dismantle censorship, expand access to the truth, and oversee U.S.-funded international media.

• Third, it modernizes educational and cultural exchanges. E.C.A. becomes a more strategic platform for soft power, not controversial stuff, but about freedom, liberty, opportunity, and what our Constitution stands for—tied to regional priorities, streamlined in administration, and focused on advancing U.S. foreign policy goals.

• The bottom line is simple: this bill, H.R. 5251, makes America stronger. It ensures that in the global fight for truth and freedom, the United States is not reacting—we are leading.

The Reauthorization Markup included over 26 hours of continuous debate and more than three hours of voting on over 100 provisions. Overall, the reauthorization contained a multitude of Huizenga’s policy priorities including:

• Establishing a Special Envoy for Burma
• Ensuring the Protection of Free Speech and Preventing Censorship Blacklists
• Requiring a study on geopolitical strategies and verification frameworks for advanced AI
• Authorizing the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) to uphold commitment to Afghan Allies
• Reforming the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
• Reforming Semiconductor Supply Chain Security Coordination with allies and partners
• Authorizing an Arctic Watchers Program in US Embassies
• Establishing a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Food Security
• Modernizing the Au Pair Regulatory framework
• Implementing an Indian Ocean Region Strategic Review
• Authorizing the Multilateral Action on Sensitive Technologies Initiative