Comer, Oversight Republicans Seek Information on State Department’s New Global Woke Czar
WASHINGTON — Today, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Oversight Committee Republicans raised concerns over the Biden Administration’s push to spend taxpayer dollars on the creation of a new “Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice” position within the U.S. Department of State to push divisive ideologies. To understand the purpose and scope of this new taxpayer-funded position, the Republican lawmakers request Secretary Antony Blinken provide all documents and communications about the creation of the role and a briefing.
“The Special Representative position continues the Biden Administration’s prioritization of a radical, progressive agenda the American people consistently reject,” wrote the lawmakers. “Committee Republicans question the necessity of this new position. Further, we are concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars on an undefined role which categorizes and further divides Americans instead of focusing on the Department’s mission to ‘protect and promote U.S. security, prosperity, and democratic values and shape an international environment in which all Americans can thrive.’ The Special Representative is the latest evidence the Biden Administration is willing to devote time, funding, and other government resources to enact divisive policies.”
On June 17, 2022, the Biden Administration appointed Desirée Cormier Smith as the Department’s first Special Representative as part of the State Department’s Equity Action Plan. According to media reports, the Special Representative will be tasked with “institutionalizing an enterprise-wide approach to integrating racial and ethnic equity” and countering disinformation. Recently, the Biden Administration attempted to install one of the most prolific purveyors of disinformation to the Department of Homeland Security’s “Disinformation Governance Board” and has supported extreme tactics to achieve preferred policy outcomes.
“The Special Representative makes the United States the global mouthpiece for divisive ideologies rather than democracy, equality, and freedom. As the American people struggle under the Biden Administration’s domestic and foreign policy, Committee Republicans question the value and wisdom of continuing to pursue an agenda grounded in waste and division,” continued the lawmakers. “Committee Republicans are concerned with the Biden Administration’s emphasis on “equity,” which—by the Administration’s highest-ranked officials’ own admissions—often runs contrary to the American ideal of equality. The Biden Administration’s prior attempts to shoehorn this pernicious ideology into every corner of the federal government have failed, and Committee Republicans urge reconsideration of this latest change within the Department.”
Read the letter here.