Duckworth Calls for More Regional Coordination Between U.S. and Pacific Partners to Protect Americans from Overseas Scam Operations

August 07, 2026 Duckworth Calls for More Regional Coordination Between U.S. and Pacific Partners to Protect Americans from Overseas Scam Operations During committee hearing, the Senator highlighted how Trump’s State Department cuts have made Americans more vulnerable to foreign fraudsters [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today stressed the urgent need for the State Department to increase multilateral coordination with Pacific partners to crack down on scam operations stemming from the region, which have defrauded far too many Americans in Illinois and across the country. During the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) hearing, Duckworth highlighted how our nation’s capacity to handle these foreign scam operations has been significantly weakened as a direct result of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s shortsighted cuts at the State Department last year, which undermined the offices within the Department that handle these threats. Full video of Duckworth’s remarks can be found on the Senator’s YouTube page . “I don’t want to be playing whack-a-mole for the next decade in our fight against foreign scam operations,” said Duckworth. “The State Department must work diligently to preempt the spread of these scam operations—but Trump’s cuts are making it difficult. It’s critical we restore the resources the Department needs to work successfully with our partners in the region and protect the American people from overseas fraudsters.” Duckworth has been a stark critic of the Trump Administration’s cuts to the State Department from the moment they began, especially as President Trump continues to burn through billions of dollars waging an illegal, disastrous war against Iran. In June, she grilled Secretary Rubio on how these proposed cuts keep with the Administration’s troubling pattern of leading with bombs over diplomacy, which has endangered our servicemembers in the Middle East, tanked America’s economy and increased the risk that our adversaries will jump to use military force as a first resort, too. While the Trump Administration continues to waste taxpayer dollars, divert our military’s resources and distract our servicemembers with illegal wars, the Senator continues to lead the charge in strengthening coordination with our Indo-Pacific partners in the face of increasing aggression from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC). Last week, she introduced bipartisan legislation to improve our nation’s capabilities to counter the PRC “gray-zone” intimidation and coercion tactics in the Indo-Pacific. Last month, Duckworth became first U.S. Senator to visit Taiwan since the disastrous Trump-Xi summit where Donald Trump kowtowed to PRC President Xi Jinping and waffled on delivering a critical bipartisan arms package to Taiwan. Upon her arrival, Duckworth penned an op-ed underscoring that the United States’ commitment to Taiwan is steadfast—regardless of who is in the White House. She also made an official visit to Japan during the same trip to strengthen economic ties between our nations, specifically in Illinois, so our nations’ trade ties can remain resilient despite PRC gray-zone activities. Duckworth is leading numerous additional pieces of legislation that would help our military readiness with Indo-Pacific partners, including through her bipartisan Strategy for Crisis Management Act and South China Sea Strategy Act that both recently passed committee and now await a full Senate vote. Her Strategy for Crisis Management Act was one of several provisions she secured in this year’s committee-passed NDAA to enhance our readiness and coordination with partners in the Indo-Pacific region. This provision would help deescalate consequential crises short of war in the South China Sea. Among Duckworth’s other wins are provisions that would drive cooperation with Indo-Pacific allies and partners on asymmetric operations and improve medical preparedness and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. -30- Print Tweet Next Article Previous Article