USAID Hearing Airs All the Jaw-Dropping Receipts

House Republicans brought the receipts to this week's "USAID Betrayal" hearing exposing the U.S. international aid agency's widespread waste and abuse of American tax dollars.

Amid intense examination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)'s spending spree, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), a majority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, listed off more ways USAID has wasted taxpayer money.

Rep. Barr: The Biden administration "severely punished" Uganda for it's "anti-homosexuality law," pushing the country right into the arms of China.

"Despite this, USAID has provided a $600,000 grant to 'empower Uganda's LGBT community.' and a $5.4 million grant to 'shift public… pic.twitter.com/1a0VSkT9P0

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2025

According to the congressional committee's findings, USAID spent:

• $11.75 million on measuring the effectiveness of DEI promotion efforts in Nepal (Award ID #AID367C1500001);
• $750,000 on Princeton University's DEI survey in the Middle East (Award ID #7200AA21C00087);
• $859,000 on hiring a DEI specialist at USAID's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Award ID #720BHA23S00034);
• $23,000 on hosting DEI recruitment seminars in San Martin, Iquitos, and Lima, Peru (Award ID #72052723P00066); 
• $558,000 on "emergency" DEI support (Award ID #7200AA22C00075);
• $1 million on hiring an LGBT advisor for USAID's U.S. Personal Services Contractor program (Award ID #7200AA22S00012);
• $15,500 on a DEI staff retreat in Nigeria (Award ID #72062023P00088);
• $100,000 to conduct a DEI survey in Ghana (Award ID #72062423C00002);
• $50,000 on the establishment of a DEI fellowship in Uzbekistan (Award ID #72012224P00001);
• $30,280 on "DEIA-facilitated conversations" in Senegal (Award IDs #72068523F50009, #72068520A00009);
• $23,300 on purchasing promotional materials for an upcoming DEI retreat (Award ID #720RFS22PC00011).

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Among other expenses, USAID used:

• $5.5 million to "improve the lives of LGBT individuals" in Uganda (Award ID #72061724CA00004);
• $37.67 million for providing "services" to prostitutes, their clients, and "transgender"-identifying people (Award ID #72067418CA00027);
• $65.7 million on vasectomies in the Congo (Award ID #7200AA20CA00011);
• $6 million on the "social inclusion of LGBTQ+ people" in countries around the world (Award ID #7200AA22CA00008);
• $4.3 million to provide "services" for men who have sex with other men in South Africa (Award ID #72067423FA00008); 
• $14.9 million to "enhance the leadership" of LGBT leaders in Cambodia (Award ID #72044223C00001);
• $3.5 million for "empowering LGBT Colombians" to take part in the political process (Award ID #72051423IO00002);
• $1.3 million to "create a comfortable environment for LGBTQ people" in North Macedonia (Award ID #72016524FA00001)
• $3,9. million to "strengthen equality and democracy" for the LGBTQ+ population in the Western Balkans (Award ID #7200AA24CA00023);
• $18,800 to help LGBT individuals vote in the 2021 Honduras elections (Award ID #72052221P00044);
• $108,700 on "strategic approaches" for advancing LGBT rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Award IDs #72016818F00001, #AID168I1500001);
• $1.1 million on "empower[ing]" the LGBT community in Armenia (Award ID #72011119CA00002);
• $595,000 to "empower" Uganda's LGBT community to "push back against anti-LGBT legislation" (Award ID #72061723FA00001).

USAID also funded circumcisions across the globe through a flurry of projects (Award IDs #72061723F50035, #72061724F50003, #72067320CA00001, #72065620CA00001, #72061220CA00003, #AID674A1500001, #AID674A001100005, #72061220CA00001, #72065623CA00003, #AID617E1200004, #AID617E1200003, #AID617E1200002, #AID674Q1300002, #72061723F00005, #72061721D00003, #72067419F00003, #AID674C1200004, #72067418N00001, #72067421C00001, #72062120F00002, #72067418F00005, #72061218F00001, #AIDOAAI1400039, #72067418F00008, #72067418F00012, #AID617BC1200001, #AID617BC1300004, #AID617BC1300001, #AID617BC1200002, #72061723F50006, #72061723F50032, #72061723F50004, #72061723F50005, #72061723F50002, #72061721F50001, #72061722F50018, #72061723F50034, #72061724F50002, #72061723F50031, #72061723F50033, #72061723F50003, #72061723F50007, #72061723F50015, #72061723.F50030, #72062120F00001, #72061719F50001, #72061723F50036, #AID617BC1500003, #AID617E1400001, #72061723F50016, #72062120D00001, #AID674H1700002, #AID674A1500002, #72061721F50010, #72061722F50008, #72061720F50008, #72061719F50020, #72061722F50021, #72061719F50017, #AID617BC1500002, #AID617E1400002, #72061722F50020, #72061722F50019, #72061720F50006, #72061720F50015, #72061721F50004, #72061721F50003, #72061722F50028, #72061723F50014, #72061721F50006, #72061719F50022, #AID674A1500005, #AID612LA1300001, #72061720FA00001, #AID617BC1300015).

During the congressional proceedings Thursday, minority member Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) cracked a circumcision joke when he argued against "these draconian changes" to USAID's multi-billion-dollar budget.

"Do it the right way!" Keating said of spending cuts. "All those things you do, all the little, small cuts—I won't say anything about circumcisions being a small cut."

Did this Democrat just try to make a circumcision joke? pic.twitter.com/4svwZu5CWW

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2025

Via press release, majority member Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) revealed that since 2022, USAID made payments to an organization led by an anti-Israel rapper who has written, produced, and performed several antisemitic songs, in which he called Israelis "cannibals" and "animals" as well as compared Gaza to Auschwitz. According to LinkedIn, American-born rapper Raffoul Saadeh is the executive director of a Palestinian NGO called Tomorrow's Youth Organization, which received $3.3 million in funds from USAID for a Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA)-affiliated program that trains female entrepreneurs, per grant records.

Lawler, citing three of his songs ("Scars of Gaza," "From the Ghetto," and "Tears over Palestine"), said Saadeh "advocates for Jew hatred in his music." Saadeh's song "Scars of Gaza" contained the lyrics: "Auschwitz reincarnated brought back to life by the victims who were burned by the Nazis." A music video of that song on Saadeh's now-deleted Facebook page ended with a call for violence. In "Tears over Palestine," Saadeh rapped: "Imagine Arabic Anne Frank writing her journal / Imagine Arab babies getting tossed in infernos / The Holocaust of Palestine / What a vicious circle."

"[W]e need to get to the bottom of why the Biden administration was funding Jew hatred," Lawler urged.

CHANGE OF HEART?

Joe Scarborough seems to acknowledge the absurdity of USAID grants — the likes of which funded "$3,000,000 to a rap artist in Gaga producing anti-Israel, anti-Semitic songs."

"There are programs...that are not the sort of program that most Americans would… pic.twitter.com/n9mO9A7jM1

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2025

As previously reported, USAID also doled out massive sums of foreign funding for Sesame Street programming in the Middle East, including:

• $20 million to create a Sesame Street program in Iraq (Award ID #72026721CA00001);
• $4.1 million to establish a Sesame Street program in Bangladesh (Award ID #72038818C00001);
• $5,2 million to start a Nigerian Sesame Street pilot program (Award ID #AID620A000800036);
• $3.9 million to teach "essential life skills" through Bangladeshi Muppets (Award ID #AID388A1300005);
• $100,000 on Sesame Street Japanese dubbing a.k.a. translated voiceovers (Award ID #SJA80018GR0056);
• $300,000 on a second season of Sesame Street in Kenya (Award ID #SKE50021GR3082).

The investigative body additionally identified other questionable USAID expenditures:

• $4.5 million to teach individuals in Kazakhstan "how to fight back against internet trolls" (Award ID #72011523CA00001);
• $200,000 on a Lebanese organization addressing vaccine misinformation with "an inoculation chatbot" in Uzbekistan (Award ID #7200AA22FA00028);
• $31.5 million to help USAID employees with counseling, "organizational resilience," wellness, and work-life balance (Award ID #AIDOAAC1700092);
• $22 million to increase tourism in Tunisia and Egypt (Award IDs #SMO55520GR0009, #72026320CA00006, #72026320C00005);
• $29 million to diversify crop agriculture in Georgia (Award ID #72011424C00002);
• $850,000 on a so-called "transgender job fair" in Bangladesh (Award ID #72038818FA00001);
• $12,000 for pushing abortion as a method of family planning in Africa (Award IDs #72067418P00016, #72062118P00018);
• $715,000 on "digital solutions for access to labor justice" in Mexico (Award ID #7200AA21FA00047).