The country voted for government accountability and for swift action. Man, are we getting it. The Trump administration has wasted no time in delivering on the promises made.
Nothing is more revealing than the waste that has been uncovered by Elon Musk and his DOGE team. Most every American has known that our tax dollars are terribly wasted, and it is so refreshing to finally have it proven.
The first victim is the USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. USAID was created in 1961, and its mission was to carry out foreign social and economic development projects. It was to “provide assistance to strategically important countries and countries in conflict; lead U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, disease, and humanitarian need; and assist U.S. commercial interests by supporting developing countries’ economic growth and building countries’ capacity to participate in world trade,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Here is a short list of some of the things funded by USAID:
- • $50 million to fund condoms in Gaza
- • $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland
- • $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia
- • $32,000 for a transgender comic in Peru
- • $37 million to the World Health Organization
- • $16 million in funding for institutional contractors in gender development offices
- • $4 million in funding for the Center for Climate-Positive Development
- • $600,000 to fund technical assistance for family planning in Latin America
- • $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
- • $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam
- • $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
- • $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
- • Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a nonprofit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even after an inspector general launched an investigation
- • Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
- • “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
- • Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
- • Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
This list could go on and on. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I understand the next victim on the chopping block will be the Department of Education. I have no doubt: We will find the same sort of waste in every department that is looked at.
Do any of these items listed appear to be in the best interest of America or a proper use of taxpayer money? I don’t think so.
Then we learned that USAID sent $59 million just last week to New York luxury hotels to house illegal immigrants. This was apparently after this investigation was underway. Perhaps a last-ditch effort to get money out the door before the brakes were applied. Musk has called for a clawback on the funds and that these monies be returned.
Washington spending has been out of control for generations. This administration is giving me hope that our country may be able to survive if these changes are allowed to go through.
We have accumulated massive debt that will fall upon our children and grandchildren. We have been borrowing trillions of dollars from countries that don’t even like us to send to other countries to fund these ridiculous projects.
Ronald Reagan once said that a program or agency created in Washington never goes away. Well, Ronnie, this administration is showing how it’s done. It must be just blown out by the roots, or it grows right back.
Democrats apparently learned nothing from this past election. They are screaming and yelling and think the sky is falling if USAID is held accountable. What are they thinking? It appears they think this spending is perfectly acceptable.
For too many years, those in Washington just kept cutting holes in the taxpayers’ pockets. They have now almost taken away the pants. The gravy train has been sopped up and now the bills are coming due. Once again, it is morning in America.
Joyce Krawiec represented Forsyth County and the 31st District in the North Carolina Senate from 2014 to 2024. She lives in Kernersville.
