The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been fighting off allegations of wasteful spending funding a ‘woke’ agenda for years, a record so problematic Congress created an entire website to combat it.
But despite spending tax dollars on DEI theater and LGBT comic books — not to mention its attempt to hide its funding of bat studies involving coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology — USAID still has solid support from New Hampshire Democrats, most notably senior U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the Trump administration’s decision to shut down USAID “an ill-advised and costly move that will only cause further chaos and leave Americans and American interests exposed.”
Cutting off foreign aid “doesn’t make America safer. That doesn’t make us stronger. That doesn’t make us more prosperous,” Shaheen added.
After news broke of the Trump team’s plans to shut down the entire agency, Shaheen used the Foreign Relations Committee’s social media page to post a message:
“The soft power of USAID and U.S. humanitarian assistance is our strength, not our weakness. We must #SaveUSAID.”
The Trump White House released a list of wasteful spending from USAID, but in an interview last week, Shaheen told a reporter those examples were “made up.”
Shaheen’s claim is incorrect.
The New York Times confirmed the items recounted by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt were real, including the $20 million grant to create an Iraqi version of Sesame Street, and a $1.5 million grant to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia.
The $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia and $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru Leavitt listed were also real examples of foreign aid spending, though the tax dollars came through the State Department, not USAID, the Times noted.
In fact, USAID’s record of questionable spending has been so sketchy, Congress passed a law creating a website to track its spending in an attempt to force more transparency. And even USAID has acknowledged that some of its funding has gone to terror organizations.
Shaheen declined to respond to questions about her claim that those examples were made up, and about her ongoing support for foreign aid spending.
U.S. taxpayers spent more than $200 billion on foreign aid during the Biden administration, not including money for weapons and direct military aid, Pew Research Center reports. Supporters note foreign aid accounts for between one and two percent of total federal funding.
But the American people still aren’t fans. In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 56 percent of Americans said they support freezing foreign aid.
That hasn’t stopped Shaheen or her fellow New Hampshire Democrats from loudly denouncing the Trump administration’s actions.
Sen. Maggie Hassan told WMUR Sunday that Trump’s actions shutting down USAID are “illegal and a violation of the constitution.” And she defended USAID spending.
“I hope Granite Staters understand how important USAID is and what a small investment it is for a big return,” Hassan said.
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), who is married to President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, is also speaking out. She joined more than 100 other Democrats in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the spending to continue.
“USAID actively combats gender-based violence (GBV) by supporting prevention programs, survivor services, and legal protections worldwide,” the letter read in part. “USAID also enhances global health security to combat pandemics and strengthen health systems.”
Combatting pandemics is a touchy subject. As Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) wrote in The Wall Street Journal Sunday:
“The watchdog organization White Coat Waste Project was the first to release evidence that both USAID and Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases were financing bat studies involving coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Yet no grants to the Chinese lab appeared in USAspending.gov. Audits later uncovered that more than a million dollars from the U.S. government were paying for the dangerous research. The bulk of the money was provided by USAID, not Dr. Fauci.”
Shaheen has been vociferous in her attacks on Trump and, in particular, the head of his DOGE program, billionaire Elon Musk.
“The irony is this guy would have been out of business but for the U.S. government bailing him out in SpaceX,” Shaheen mocked.
(In fact, Musk won a $1.6 billion contract with NASA and performed so well that SpaceX has won a series of contracts since.)
As for Trump, a new CBS News poll finds 70 percent of Americans believe he is doing what he promised in his campaign. And if they’re angry over his attack on foreign aid, it hasn’t come up in the polls.
Trump enjoys a 53-47 percent approval rating.
