House Committee member questions oversight of diplomacy-aligned groups, presses NED witness on grantee terminations

A member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs pressed a witness from the National Endowment for Democracy on oversight of diplomacy-aligned entities and how the endowment decides to terminate grantees, saying Congress has not conducted regular oversight in roughly a decade.

Opening his questioning with a quote he attributed to President Ronald Reagan — "There's nothing quite so close to eternal life on this earth as a government program" — the committee member said the comment framed a broader review of organizations that do diplomacy-aligned work but do not report directly to the State Department. He asked whether the entities remain relevant and whether they provide good value for sums the committee described in hearings as between $40 million and $300 million.

The member said he intends to invite an organization identified in the transcript only as "OM" to explain why that group would prefer to fold operations internally, and he said he will press OM with the same oversight questions he directed at the endowment.

Addressing a direct question about risk to grantees, the committee member asked whether activists or partner organizations would face comparable danger for working with the U.S. State Department and for working with the National Endowment for Democracy, which he described as "essentially 100% funded by the U.S. Department of State." The member asked what baseline standard would disqualify a grantee from support.

Mr. Malinowski, the witness, said degrees of separation can matter and that he defers to assessments from activists on the ground about danger. On termination practices, he said the endowment routinely reviews partners and "turn[s] over probably about 30% of the portfolio" during evaluations driven by effectiveness, impact, alignment with priorities, or changes requested after consultation with Congress or the administration. He said the endowment does not fund organizations hostile to the United States and assesses editorial standards, oversight and governance when evaluating independent media partners.

Malinowski also said the endowment will terminate support when evaluations show insufficient impact or when a grantee acted in ways the endowment deemed indefensible; he said safeguards are in place to limit the fungibility of funds and that the organization makes funding decisions with attention to both local constituencies and American interests.

The committee member closed by reiterating that the panel will pursue additional testimony and oversight to determine whether the programs under review are "the right value for the American taxpayer" and to compare the endowment's practices with those of other State Department-funded entities.

The hearing did not record a formal vote or a final decision; the committee member said he would invite OM for further testimony and continue questions with the witness in subsequent rounds.