House Oversight GOP probe Blinken on State Department’s ‘Global Woke Czar’

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FIRST ON FOX: The Republican members of the House Oversight Committee probed Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Biden administration’s decision to appoint a "Global Woke Czar." 

Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., led the letter to Blinken with 15 of his Republican colleagues engaging in oversight of the Biden administration’s appointment of Desirée Cormier Smith as the US Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice.

Comer told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the "creation of the State Department’s new Global Woke Czar position is just the latest example of the Biden Administration pushing a radical, far-left agenda on the American people."

HOUSE GOP GRILL STATE DEPT ON SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR RACIAL EQUITY AND JUSTICE, ‘LEFT-WING SOCIAL AGENDA’

House Oversight and Reform Committee Ranking Member James Comer, R-Ky., led the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the appointment of the Biden administration's "Global Woke Czar." (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

"The last thing the federal government should be spending taxpayer dollars on is an undefined role whose purpose will only distract the State Department from their core responsibilities," Comer said.

"The State Department must be focused on diplomacy, not divisiveness. The American people deserve to fully understand the Biden Administration’s decision to create this unnecessary and counterproductive role," he continued.

In the letter, the Republicans wrote they were "conducting oversight" of Cormier Smith’s appointment and that her appointment "continues the Biden Administration’s prioritization of a radical, progressive agenda the American people consistently reject."

"Committee Republicans question the necessity of this new position," the lawmakers wrote. "Further, we are concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars on an undefined role which categorizes and further divides Americans instead of focusing on the Department’s mission to ‘protect and promote U.S. security, prosperity, and democratic values and shape an international environment in which all Americans can thrive.’"

The Republicans wrote that the appointment is "the latest evidence the Biden Administration is willing to devote time, funding, and other government resources to enact divisive policies" and pointed to the administration’s controversial actions over the past few months.

As Secretary of State, Blinken oversees Desirée Cormier Smith as the U.S. Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

"In the past several months alone, the Biden Administration has attempted to install one of the most prolific purveyors of disinformation to the ill-conceived ‘Disinformation Governance Board,’ has elevated one of the most adamant deniers of the winner of the 2016 election as spokeswoman for the Administration, and has supported extreme tactics—including intimidating Supreme Court Justices—to effect its preferred policy outcomes," they wrote.

"The Special Representative makes the United States the global mouthpiece for divisive ideologies rather than democracy, equality, and freedom," they continued.

Comer and his GOP committee colleagues wrote they "question the value and wisdom of continuing to pursue an agenda grounded in waste and division" as Americans "struggle under" the Biden administration’s policies and pointed to the job duties that come with Cormier Smith’s appointment.

"According to an email obtained by media sources prior to the recent appointment, the Special Representative is to be responsible for ‘institutionaliz[ing] an enterprise-wide approach to integrating racial and ethnic equity’ and ‘promoting systems of inclusion that mitigate bias, discrimination, and violence’ and ‘fostering more inclusive societies,’" they wrote.

"Apparently in an attempt to revive the remnants of the ‘Disinformation Governance Board,’ the Biden Administration has also tasked the Special Representative with ‘countering disinformation and societal violence aimed at… marginalized racial and ethnic communities[.]’ The Department’s existing Global Engagement Center—which combats disinformation primarily from Russia—does not appear to oversee the Special Representative, whose purview the Department has declined to characterize as primarily domestic or international."

The lawmakers wrote they are concerned with the Biden administration’s "emphasis on ‘equity,’" which they wrote "often runs contrary to the American ideal of equality" and was confirmed "by the Administration’s highest-ranked officials’ own admissions."

"Equity has been used as an excuse to discriminate legally, a debasement of individuals to simplistic characterizations, and a disgrace to American heroes of all races and religions (and of either gender) who have fought for equality before the law," the Republicans wrote, adding that "has characterized equity as a ‘national security challenge with global consequences’" in the press release first announcing the appointment.

"The Biden Administration’s prior attempts to shoehorn this pernicious ideology into every corner of the federal government have failed, and Committee Republicans urge reconsideration of this latest change within the Department," they continued, including a list of questions for Blinken to answer.

The lawmakers also asked that Blinken provide a briefing on the department’s special representative position by July 6, 2022.

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Joining Comer on the letter were the Republican members of the House Oversight Committee, including Reps. Jody Hice of Georgia, Pete Sessions of Texas, and Scott Franklin and Byron Donalds of Florida.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the letter.