Rex Tillerson’s Hearings before Congress: What Was Said and What CGD Experts Think

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s appearances before important Congressional Committees this week give us some clues about where the battle lines will be drawn between the Trump Administration’s budget proposals, including an almost 30 percent reduction to the State Department, and the negotiating positions of US lawmakers keen to defend America’s role on the global stage.

Here, CGD experts Amanda Glassman, Scott Morris, and Jeremy Konyndyk weigh in on some of the key points we heard (and live tweeted) during Secretary Tillerson’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, later, when he answered questions from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Did we miss anything? Please have your say in the comments section below. And thanks to Gailyn Portelance and Jared Kalow, star research assistants with CGD’s US Development Policy Initiative, for being on Twitter duty.