Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi: “Soft Power Cannot Become a Political Bargaining Chip” in Potential Government Shutdown
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and CCP, published an op-ed in Foreign Policy about the United States’ soft-power race with the Chinese Communist Party, and how any government shutdown would actively harm our nation’s ability to win such a race with the CCP.
Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi wrote the following: “As we get closer to the prospect of a House Republican-led government shutdown, the United States’ soft power cannot become a political bargaining chip. This is why every Democrat on my committee signed a letter to the House Appropriations Committee showcasing the debilitating impact that cuts—as high as 31 percent to the State Department and foreign operations budget—would have on our ability to project U.S. soft power.
From leading people-to-people exchanges to running programs to combat the climate crisis, our diplomats, trade officers, development leaders, and so many others represent our greatest soft-power assets in competition with China across the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Kneecapping them to score some political points in a budget negotiation does nothing but give China an opening to criticize the U.S. democratic system.
If we want to win this competition, we need to keep our team on the field. To do that, we have to fight against these kinds of cuts.”
To read the full op-ed, click here.
华盛顿特区 — 今天，众议院美国与中共战略竞争特别委员会资深议员、伊利诺伊州民主党众议员拉贾·克利胥纳莫提 (Raja Krishnamoorthi) 在《外交政策》杂志上发表了一篇评论文章，讨论美国与中共的软实力竞争，以及政府关闭将怎样有效地损害我国赢得与中国共产党的这场竞赛的能力。
资深议员克利胥纳莫提写道：“随着众议院共和党主导的政府关门的可能性越来越大，美国的软实力会失去成为政治讨价还价的筹码。这就是为什么我的委员会中的每一位民主党议员都签署了一封致众议院拨款委员会的信，以展示消减开支—例如削减国务院和海外业务预算高达 31% -- 对美国未来的软实力带来的破坏性影响。
从领导人文交流到开展应对气候危机的项目，我们的外交官、贸易官员、发展领导人以及其他许多人代表了我们在印太地区、非洲、拉美和中东地区与中国竞争时最重要的软实力资产。在预算谈判中屈膝以获取一些政治分数，只会给中国提供批评美国民主制度的机会。
如果我们想赢得竞争，我们就需要全面尽力。为此，我们必须反对此类预算削减。”
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