LEILA FADEL, HOST:
On Capitol Hill this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended cutbacks at the State Department, President Trump's sleeping habits and radical changes in the U.S. refugee program, which used to have bipartisan support. NPR's Michele Kelemen takes a closer look.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: For decades, the U.S. had a program to resettle the world's most vulnerable refugees, vetted and screened for months or years before they could arrive. But the Trump administration put a stop to that and created a new program just for Afrikaners - white South Africans. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained it this way at a House hearing this week.
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MARCO RUBIO: We have gauged that there is real interest from a unique subset of people in South Africa who would be interested to coming in the United States and who we assess have a high likelihood of rapid assimilation and success in our society. And hence, this program was created.
KELEMEN: The Trump administration says it will allow up to 17,000 white South Africans to come this year. Congresswoman Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, compared that to the 1,000 Afghans who fled the Taliban but are now stuck in limbo in Qatar, since the Trump administration won't accept them.
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GRACE MENG: Why can't they assimilate into society?
RUBIO: A background check is not the symbol of assimilation.
MENG: I've been to their centers in my district in Queens.
RUBIO: Well, I...
MENG: They have assimilated and contribute and pay taxes.
RUBIO: Yeah, but we've already assumed a lot of Afghan refugees. As you said, you have them in your district.
KELEMEN: The State Department is trying to find countries willing to accept those Afghans and proposed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there's now an Ebola outbreak. Congresswoman Julie Johnson, a Democrat from Texas, accused Rubio of dishonoring Afghans who helped Americans during the war.
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JULIE JOHNSON: Mr. Secretary, is it the policy of this government to send these Afghan folks to the Congo?
RUBIO: That's just one country. The policy of the United States is to find multiple countries, and they will be able to choose which one they want to go to of the options that they're presented.
KELEMEN: At that hearing, Rubio clashed with Democrats, who raised concerns about President Trump's stock trades and the business dealings of his top negotiators - son-in-law Jared Kushner and real estate developer Steve Witkoff. Rubio repeatedly said that he's never seen any of them take steps to promote their businesses. He also told lawmakers that he's never seen President Trump sleep, though California Democrat Ted Lieu showed videos of Trump closing his eyes at public Cabinet meetings.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROB FORD EXPLORER'S "PHOENICIA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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