Priorities going into 2025 – Post Election
By: Haldis Toppen, Outreach Director, Greenheart International
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. The 119th Congress will also be sworn in January 2025.
While Greenheart is an apolitical organization, we do our due diligence to understand the policies that are of focus for lawmakers and the president. Our BridgeUSA programs are overseen by the Department of State, through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The president nominates the secretary of state who oversees the work at State, and Congress oversees the budget of programs like BridgeUSA. The president and Congress, alike, are important leaders and decision-makers on the work we do.
Here is what we know and what to expect going into 2025:
- Secretary of State-nominated, Senator Marco Rubio has been a great supporter of exchange programs. Sen. Rubio has long been a strong supporter of international exchanges, especially during his tenure on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. As an industry, we look forward to working with him in his new role leading the Department.
- During President Trump’s last tenure as President, he did suggest an 80% budget cut of ECA’s budget. However, a Republican-led Congress countered with an increase to the previous year’s budget showing robust support of our programs. Moving forward, we expect there to be proposed cuts, but are prepared to prevent the official cuts from happening.
- President Trump has appointed Stephen Miller as a Senior Political Advisor in his next administration. Miller was the author of Buy American, Hire American (BAHA). In 2017, Miller put the professional BridgeUSA exchange programs under a microscope, which led to a massive effort by the industry to protect and support these programs through a campaign called #savej1. Eventually, this scrutiny trailed off. At this time, we do not know if this will be a focus in the next administration.
Traditionally, exchange programs in the United States has been a bipartisan issue. While much remains to be seen for President Trump’s next administration, as always, Greenheart is committed to working with those in the exchange community, including the Alliance for International Exchange, to educate our lawmakers and the president. This collaborative and educational work has already begun with the Alliance’s letters to Senator Marco Rubio, congratulating him on his nomination and to President Trump, (summary listed here) outlining key priorities we hope he considers to support his new administration and the work we do.
As the Executive Director at the Alliance, Mark Overmann said: “Every new Congress and Administration provides us with an opportunity – an opportunity to educate newly elected officials about the value of international education and exchange and to cultivate new allies.” We truly believe this.
As we move forward, we will look to our community of hosts, sending agents, community members, participants, and networks to continue to educate those around us on the importance of these programs and the value they provide to the American people and the leadership it provides to the world. This may include call and letter writing campaigns, initiatives like Summer of Action, or inviting your local representative to your business. However, one thing we ask you all to do today is to join Americans for Cultural Exchange, and show your support.
For more information on the Advocacy work Greenheart does, please refer here and stay tuned: https://greenheart.org/about/advocacy/