THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2024 15 expressed hopes that Hamas will take the deal. “You’ve got to see a political future for the Palestinian people, but you’ve also crucially got to see security for Israel and those two things have to go together,” Cameron said on April 29 during the World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh. Hiring Cuts Expected Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Ambassador Richard Verma remarked on April 3 that budget cuts for the remainder of 2024 will strain the department: “ e dollars are simply unable to stretch as far as we need to meet the moment.” Verma cited Ukraine, the Middle East, the Indo-Paci c, and global humanitarian needs as major global pressures demanding U.S. attention in the form of a well-resourced and adequately funded Foreign Service. In response to the budget cuts, the State Department expects to have to halve the number of new hires for the remainder of 2024 after the large July orientation class comes in. Recent orientation class cohorts, which now combine generalists and specialists, have been averaging 200-220 Foreign Service members. Blinken in Beijing Against the backdrop of the Biden administration’s restrictive economic measures against China, Secretary Blinken traveled to Beijing the week of April 22 to meet with senior Chinese o cials. Lise Grande as the new coordinator for humanitarian aid to Gaza. The position was created one week after the Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Grande is the current CEO and president of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and will replace Ambassador David Satterfield in the coordinator role. Blinken headed out on his seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East on April 29. “The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and the hostages out,” Blinken told the Gulf Cooperation Council on April 29. On the same day, a Hamas delegation met with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo to respond to a 40-day cease-fire deal proposed by Israel on April 27. Israel demanded that Hamas release 40 hostages; the deal would also require that Israel release 900 Palestinian prisoners. The international community has been concerned with Israeli plans for a possible offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. Blinken asserted that the U.S. would not support an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah without a “plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed.” Both Secretary Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron have First Lady Jill Biden speaks at the White House ceremony to sign DETO MOU, as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma looks on. AFSA/TINA WONG Budget Pressures The pressures on the international affairs budget have become too great. Our process is overwhelmed. We are at a point where it is tiùe to start ùaïing diÒficĬlt cÙoices, ones tÙat Ļe Ùaĺe to make and prioritize. I really feel that this budget does not do that. —Senator James Risch (R-Idaho) during the April 10 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the FY2025 United States Agency for International Development budget request. Expanding the Pie When we try to address one crisis, we often have to use money from somewhere else. We should not have to choose between addressing the climate crisis or helping vulnerable communities adapt to our rapidly changing world. _r ÙoĬsing reÒĬgees ōeeing ĺiolenceƚ _r ÒĬnding antiƪcorrĬētion ērograùsƚ Or strengthening our global health initiatives. We need to expand the pie. —Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) during the April 10 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the FY2025 United States Agency for International Development budget request. HEARD ON THE HILL JOSH
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