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Dear Board of Directors,

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are getting excited about next week’s Tribute Dinner.

In this wild week of tax reform debate, and more unusual tweets and press conferences, I wanted to share three quick items, including some truly disappointing remarks by Secretary Tillerson yesterday.

Secretary of State Speaks Out
Speaking at the Wilson Center, Secretary Tillerson defended pulling back the budget to pre-9/11 levels and gave perhaps his worst justification to date for the proposed budget cuts, while denying reports that the Department was being “hollowed out.” Here are some of the highlights (or lowlights, I suppose):


* Justifying Budget Cuts: “…bringing the budget numbers back down is reflective of an expectation that we’re going to have some success in… getting these conflicts resolved.”


* On Spending Levels: “…as we look at that spending level, quite frankly it’s just not sustainable. It’s very difficult to execute a $55 billion budget and to execute it well.”


* Reports of Hemorrhaging Personnel: “There is no hollowing out, the numbers that people are throwing out are just false. They’re wrong.”


* On the Hiring Freeze: “There is a hiring freeze I’ve kept in place because as we redesign the organization, we’re probably going to have people that need to be redeployed to other assignments”

CFR President Richard Haass, angered over the comment about fewer conflicts, immediately tweeted, “Rex Tillerson justifying reductions in State Dept $/personnel in part from expectation US is going to succeed in getting some conflicts resolved. Really? Which? N Korea? Ukraine? S China Sea? Yemen? Israel-Pal?” Couldn’t agree more.

The Budget Deal, or No Deal
With the tax bill taking all the oxygen this week, the President’s feud with “Chuck and Nancy” nearly guarantees that decisions on FY18 funding levels will be finalized in January. The only question is if Congress will pass a short-term CR when the current one expires on December 8th or a CR that lasts until early January.

* Lindsay, Jason and I spent the last two weeks on Capitol Hill talking to Leadership and Appropriators about a budget deal and making sure the International Affairs Budget was protected in the final FY18 spending bill.

* The good news: everyone agrees. One very senior Appropriator even told me “level funding is my goal.” The bad news: there is still a long and winding road ahead to get there.

USGLC Tribute Dinner
We are in our final preparations for next week’s USGLC Tribute Dinner, A Salute to Our Frontline Heroes, where we are expecting a sold-out crowd as we honor Ambassador Nikki Haley for her exceptional leadership on the world stage and all 200 members of our National Security Advisory Council.

* We are thrilled that our military leaders will have an opportunity to meet with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster prior to the dinner.
* It’s going to be a very special evening and I appreciate your support.

Don’t forget to make your final push to sell your two extra tables. We are very close to reaching our goal, but still about $25,000 short, so please be in touch with Melissa or with me.

Thank you all,

Liz
Liz Schrayer, USGLC