Booker, SFRC Colleagues Demand Answers Regarding State Department Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led colleagues in writing a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing deep concerns with imminent Reductions in Force (RIFs) at the State Department, and requested answers on the Trump administration’s process for carrying out these layoffs.
“RIFs should remain a tool of last resort, and if implemented must be conducted according to long-standing procedures that prioritize transparency and a merit-based process for both career civil service employees and Foreign Service Officers (FSOs). During a time of increasingly complex and wide-spread challenges to U.S. national security, this administration should be strengthening our diplomatic corps—an irreplaceable instrument of U.S. power and leadership—not weakening it. However, RIFs would severely undermine the Department’s ability to achieve U.S. foreign policy interests, putting our nation’s security, strength, and prosperity at risk,”the senators wrote.
Since January, the Foreign Service has shrunk by nearly 25 percent and the number of civil service employees has also decreased due to agency closures, early retirement, and buyouts.
“While every administration is entitled to set new priorities and engage in reorganization of executive agencies, we are deeply concerned by the breadth of these RIFs and the lack of clarity and transparency of the Department’s RIF process,”the senators continued.
The senators requested a response to the following questions by no later than July 18, 2025:
RIF Criteria:
Foreign Service Officers:
Civil Service:

Reassignment Process:
The letter is cosigned by Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
To read the full text of the letter, clickhere.