Americans are generous people. When there is suffering around the world, the United States has traditionally been first on the scene to render assistance. However, when foreign aid puts American interests at a disadvantage, it is prudent to re-evaluate the recipients and the objectives of that helping hand. This was the objective of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on "America Last: How Foreign Aid Undermines US Interests Around the World," convened on Feb. 26.
Foreign Aid by USAID Consistently Wasted Taxpayer Money
This hearing was prompted by recent revelations of the waste and wanton misuse of American tax dollars by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The backdrop for the hearing was the recent RealClearPolitics commentary, "The Real Victims of USAID's Mismanagement," which observed:
"[B]ehind its noble mission of alleviating suffering and fostering stability lies a deeply flawed system – one riddled with pet political programs, excessive overhead, and a rejection of meaningful oversight … USAID's unchecked hubris, its tendency to fund projects of questionable value, and its failure to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent advancing their interest have all contributed to the current crisis."
As the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), explained in her opening statement, "The Democrat-run USAID should not get to use our Federal Government, our US taxpayer dollars as their party piggy bank to push their radical agenda in countries that we have no business giving money to." This sentiment set the tone for the Republicans on the committee. Committee Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) put her opening statement in the context of her dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) uncovering the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Biden administration's USAID performance.
"You're going to hear all kinds of conspiracy theories, accusations, and unfounded data. It's designed to confuse and provide cover for Donald Trump and Elon Musk in their reckless gutting of our foreign aid," Stansbury claimed in her opening statement. The ranking member attempted to punctuate her critical view of the work DOGE has done to save taxpayer dollars by waving around 8X10 photographs that were often upside-down and indecipherable as to what they were depicting. She accused the Trump administration of turning its back on its European allies – a comment totally off the subject of USAID's providing US citizens' hard-earned dollars for causes inimical to the voters' wishes.
Witness Answers Ranking Member’s Contention
In his opening statement before the committee, Gregg Roman, executive director, Middle East Forum, directly addressed Stansbury's contention that USAID was singularly instrumental in providing critical aid to countries in need and is vital to US foreign aid policy and national security. He explained:
"Despite what we hear in the media, there is no linkage between how we do aid and our national security. South Africa has received billions of American aid dollars yet is China's main African partner (South Africa is the ‘S’ in BRICS). It supports Hamas and Iran and opposes us at every turn at the United Nations. Last summer, Mozambique and Tanzania, other large aid recipients, conducted two-week military exercises with the People's Liberation Army, expanding China's power projection to the lip of our Atlantic Ocean."
The comments by Max Primorac, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, underscored the title of the hearing. Regardless of what the advocates of USAID say, the organization under Joe Biden’s administration worked diligently against US interests. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) pointed out, "I think that forcing transgenderism and novel sexual fetishes on more traditional cultures does not advance American interests." Noam Unger, director of the Sustainable Development and Resilience Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, did not agree. He claimed that money to push the liberal LGBTQ+ and climate change ideologies on underdeveloped nations supported US values. To follow up, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) asked Unger, "Two million dollars to quote 'activity to strengthen trans-led organizations to deliver transgender surgeries.' Do you think that's a good use of taxpayer dollars?" Unger answered, "I believe it's a good use of taxpayer money."
In Unger's defense, he invoked some of the historically beneficial achievements of USAID since President John F. Kennedy created the organization some 60-plus years ago. However, as Shakespeare observed in his play Julius Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones." So, it is, it seems, with USAID. Whatever good the organization did in the past, its legacy is the present squandering of US dollars. Nearly 80% of Americans in a recent Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll agree with the DOGE initiative. That puts the minority members of the subcommittee definitely in the minority. Why, then, is there so much whining?
In her closing statement, Greene answered the question, saying, "96% of all political contributions from USAID employees go to Democrat Party candidates or PACs [political action committees]. Perhaps that's why we are hearing all the complaining." Makes sense.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
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