HRES219-119

That the House of Representatives— recognizes the importance of efforts to recruit, hire, and retain employees from the broadest talent pool for United States foreign affairs agencies in order for the United States to be globally competitive and ensure that our diplomatic and development agencies remain the best in the world; reaffirms that the Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship Program, Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship Program, William D. Clarke Sr. Diplomatic Security Fellowship, and Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship Program are statutorily mandated programs enacted into law by Congress on a bipartisan basis to address recognized issues of exclusion for women and racial and ethnic minority groups as well as economically disadvantaged and rural populations plaguing the Department of State and United States Agency for International Development for decades; underscores the importance of international affairs fellowships and similar career entry programs to United States national security and foreign policy; and recognizes the substantial United States taxpayer investment in ensuring the Department of State and United States Agency for International Development can recruit top talent from across the country, provide them with critical training, and strengthen America’s development and diplomatic capabilities—efforts that are undermined by attempts to dismantle these programs, wasting taxpayer resources and weakening national security.