Tillerson says State Department spending 'simply not sustainable'

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday the State Department's current spending was "not sustainable," and he willingly accepted the "challenge" President Donald Trump had given in proposing to cut more than a quarter of his agency's budget.

Trump's budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1 would cut 28 percent of the budget for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid, according to documents provided by the White House. The combined budget for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would be $25.6 billion.