Revamping USAID
This piece was first published by The Union, which censored and removed significant portions of the article without the author’s permission. Below is the original article in its entirety.
I happened to be in the D.C. area when the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development were closed. For those of us outside the Beltway who are unfamiliar with USAID, the agency was created via Executive Order by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 with the worthy goals of helping curb diseases, respond to famines and natural disasters, provide poverty relief, and to “promote and demonstrate democratic values abroad, and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.”
According to ForeignAssistance.gov, in 2023, the most recent fiscal year for which data is complete, the US government disbursed $71.9 billion in foreign aid. 60% of that amount, $43.8 billion, was administered by USAID, apparently with little oversight.
“What we have seen with USAID is a blatant disregard for . . . how {Americans} want their dollars spent around the globe,” said Iowa Senator Joni Ernst. “There are important projects, but we have to . . . ferret out the waste.” USAID does give aid to a number of valid organizations, and exemptions in the original order rightly included humanitarian assistance that “applies to core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance.” Despite the inaccurate claims of protesters at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, these waivers included funding for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPAR). But outside of those lifesaving programs, just a cursory search of USAID grants shows an extraordinary amount of questionable spending.
A 2015 ProPublica story revealed billions of dollars of waste by USAID in Afghanistan: $335 million on a diesel fueled power plant that sat unused because Afghanistan could not afford to import diesel; over $300 million on a dam that was deemed unsafe to use; $70 million on contractor fees for projects that were canceled, yet the money was not returned; $500,000 on a police training facility that was destroyed when it rained because it was made out of sand; $486 million for 22 cargo planes that were unsafe to fly and later sold as scrap for about $30,000; and much more.
Up until 2020 USAID spent more than $12 billion, intended primarily for food and medical supplies, to help Syrian civilians affected by war. Mahmoud Al Hafyan, a Syrian National who led a non-governmental organization (NGO), diverted more than $9 million of that funding to armed combatant groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front, a designated foreign terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq.
Senator Ernst reported that USAID stonewalled her and other Senators last year when they tried to get an accounting of how taxpayer funds were being spent. What did they fear might be uncovered?
Perhaps it was a $1.5million program to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities" and a $70,000 program for a DEI musical in Ireland. Or $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. Or funding to advocate for abortion in Rwanda and LGBTQIA+ initiatives in Hungary, to create drag shows in Ecuador, and to support atheism in Nepal.
Maybe it was $2 million for sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala, or $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia. How about $45 million for “sexual and other reproductive health care” for Gaza, and $10 million for condoms in the Gaza Province of Mozambique, Africa. Or $45 million for DEI scholarships in Burma; or $520 million for ESG investments in Africa.
In 2023, according to a report in the Post Millennial, USAID humanitarian funds were used in an attempt to destabilize Hungary’s government by funding their domestic policy detractors - probably not what JFK had in mind when he created the organization.
Democrats continue to loudly protest any move to root out waste and abuse, claiming that President Trump has launched a “coup” against the administrative state for attempting to determine if taxpayer money is being wasted. Yet there was a time when they cared about this waste. In 1993, under President Bill Clinton’s direction, Vice President Al Gore led an initiative referred to as “REGO”, whose quest was “remaking the federal government in the image of the nation’s most successful businesses.” That effort followed the Grace Commission of the early 1980s and the Hoover Commission of the 1940s, both of which recommended hundreds of largely ignored ways to improve and economize government operations.
In the case of USAID, a former employee, Tim Meisburger, disclosed that “of the top 17 grantees and partners of USAID’s Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, 14 saw 100% of their political donations during the 2019-2020 election cycle directed to Democratic party causes with only one under 90%.” Could this be part of the reason for the outrage coming from Democrats? Or do they honestly support American taxpayer dollars funding DEI musicals in Ireland, transgender operas in Colombia, and promoting atheism in Nepal?
The pastor of the largest church in Chile explained last year that despite having a deeply held traditional view of family and gender, Chilean public schools had begun aggressively teaching LGBT ideology, to the horror of Chilean parents. Why? Because Chile feared losing funding if they did not comply with USAID’s “LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy”.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, recently posted on X that “Most governments don’t want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up. . .The majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements. At best, maybe 10% of the money reaches real projects that help people in need . . . but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda.”
Americans are generous and compassionate people who want to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and help those in need. Humanitarian aid should not come with a political message. It should be used to aid, not to coerce.