{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://huizenga.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=404157", "ICYMI: Huizenga Helps Sherpherd First State Department Review & Reauthorization in Over 20 Years", "2025-09-25", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Bill Huizenga", "H001058", "huizenga.house.gov", "huizenga", "https://huizenga.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Last week, Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a comprehensive reauthorization of the State Department. This is the first time programs at the State Department have been thoroughly reviewed and reauthorized in over 20 years. The reauthorization was comprised of eight bills including H.R. 5251, introduced by Congressman Huizenga, to modernize and reauthorize the public diplomacy arm of the State Department. H.R. 5251 passed 48-0 and was the only structural reform legislation to pass with unanimous bipartisan support. Overall, this package of bills restores both accountability and structure to the State Department while ensuring every taxpayer dollar and every diplomat puts American interests first. The reauthorization package now advances for a vote before the entire U.S. House of Representatives.\n\nAs Chairman of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, Congressman Huizenga has jurisdiction over the public diplomacy bureau of the State Department. H.R. 5251 streamlines all public diplomacy functions and aligns personnel, budgets, and regional teams worldwide under a single chain of command. This will help ensure all U.S. messages are unified, integrated, disciplined, and strategically directed. Additionally, H.R. 5251 requires annual reports to Congress that include clear metrics, benchmarks, and adversary-response assessments. Importantly, it also enforces results-based management across educational and cultural exchanges, aligning them with strategic priorities and foreign policy outcomes.\n\nHuizenga remarks on H.R. 5251\n\nFirst, it empowers the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy with a clear mission: deliver facts, expose adversaries, and expand access to free information. The Under Secretary will align public diplomacy officers worldwide, chair interagency coordination, and produce a global strategy with measurable results. We are all on the same page as we are telling America\u2019s story.\n\nSecond, it transforms our information posture. The Bureau of Global Public Affairs, currently headed up by Assistant Secretary Michele Exner, becomes the Bureau of Strategic Communications\u2014with a proactive mandate to counter propaganda, dismantle censorship, expand access to the truth, and oversee U.S.-funded international media.\n\nThird, it modernizes educational and cultural exchanges. E.C.A. becomes a more strategic platform for soft power, not controversial stuff, but about freedom, liberty, opportunity, and what our Constitution stands for\u2014tied to regional priorities, streamlined in administration, and focused on advancing U.S. foreign policy goals.\n\nThe bottom line is simple: this bill, H.R. 5251, makes America stronger. It ensures that in the global fight for truth and freedom, the United States is not reacting\u2014we are leading.\n\nThe Reauthorization Markup included over 26 hours of continuous debate and more than three hours of voting on over 100 provisions. Overall, the reauthorization contained a multitude of Huizenga\u2019s policy priorities including:\n\nEstablishing a Special Envoy for Burma\n\nEnsuring the Protection of Free Speech and Preventing Censorship Blacklists\n\nRequiring a study on geopolitical strategies and verification frameworks for advanced AI\n\nAuthorizing the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) to uphold commitment to Afghan Allies\n\nReforming the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)\n\nReforming Semiconductor Supply Chain Security Coordination with allies and partners\n\nAuthorizing an Arctic Watchers Program in US Embassies\n\nEstablishing a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Food Security\n\nModernizing the Au Pair Regulatory framework\n\nImplementing an Indian Ocean Region Strategic Review\n\nAuthorizing the Multilateral Action on Sensitive Technologies Initiative\n\nRelated News\n\nHuizenga, Olszewski, Kim, Thompson, and Bilirakis Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen American Manufacturing\n\nJune 4, 2026 | Posted in Press Releases\n\nHuizenga Introduces Deport the Terrorists Act\n\nJune 2, 2026 | Posted in Press Releases\n\nHuizenga Introduces Legislation to Stop China and Russia from Stealing American AI Models\n\nApril 20, 2026 | Posted in Press Releases\n\nUNANIMOUS: Bipartisan Huizenga Legislation to Curb AI Chip Smuggling Passes Committee\n\nMarch 26, 2026 | Posted in Press Releases\n\nThe 3% Resolution: Huizenga, Peters, Smucker, Quigley Introduce Bipartisan Budget Deficit Reduction Measure\n\nJanuary 8, 2026 | Posted in Press Releases", 1, "2026-06-27T21:44:12Z", "2026-06-27T22:31:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://huizenga.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=404157"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7952672205865383, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}