I wrote back in December about how we simply as a nation must reduce the size and cost of our government. We cannot continue to run trillion-dollar deficits and racking up debt. Families have had to make financial sacrifices due to inflation. It is not fair for the government to spend the people’s money and not get value for money when average Americans have had to make cuts due to rampant inflation.
On top of the wasteful spending in California and Los Angeles, which meant we did not have enough firefighters and water, there can be no greater example of the egregious waste and spending of hard-working Americans’ taxes on vanity projects than USAID.
I am Catholic. I believe in charity and helping others. Indeed, a central tenet of Christianity is “love thy neighbor.” As a community, Santa Clarita Valley has hundreds of nonprofits dedicated to helping others. We care, and that is why we cannot continue down this destructive path and why President Donald Trump is right to reform USAID.
We all recall the devastating earthquake in Haiti. We all recall the many times Haiti has been on our TV screens, on our social media seeing the suffering of that poor blighted country that cannot catch a break.
I am sure that every one of us, if asked by a pollster whether we would want to feed poor people in a Third World country after a disaster, would say yes. But that is not what USAID did. Far from it.
Since 2010, USAID has spent $4,4 billion on tiny, improvised Haiti. That’s $4.4 billion to make the poor Haitians’ lives better. Desperate people needing help: $1.5 billion was for immediate assistance and $3 billion toward development. Now in Haiti, the Haitians are asking “Where has the money gone?”
That’s right, they’re asking, where has the money gone? The U.S. government cannot prove what the funds have been spent on and cannot show any sustainable long-term impact. Haiti is just as bad as ever.
So, where has $4.4 billion of your taxes gone? The answer may surprise you.
Most of Haiti’s funding went through USAID. Since 2010, USAID awarded $2.13 billion in grants for Haiti-related work. About $50 million, yes, $50 million, has gone directly to Haitian charities and businesses. That is about 2%. Over $1.2 billion has gone to firms located in Maryland and Virginia, otherwise known to you and me as the Washington, D.C., Beltway. Looking at the contracts issued, 65% went to Beltway firms and consultants and under 2% to Haitian firms.
Now you could say, “Oh well the Haitians need expertise, and they don’t have it,” but then look at what else USAID has been up to. It has come out this week that USAID has been spending millions on Politico subscriptions. That’s right, using your money to pay journalists. The excuse from the Democrats is that Politico has articles and research papers to help government employees do their jobs. That is right, for government employees to learn on the job, they need to spend money on journalists’ research to tell them how to manage their jobs.
So if USAID needs to send money to left-wing journalists in an echo chamber to tell them how to do their jobs, then why can’t USAID send more money directly to Haiti to let local people make the right decisions for their community? Why does someone sitting in Maryland drinking a $10 latte know best?
It is not just in Haiti where USAID has been found wanting. The U.S. government gave Politico $29 million to do a study on why pizza was bad for you. Then spent $60 million on a non-profit whose drive was to shut down New York pizza ovens and businesses. Then they started a second nonprofit to raise $17 million to buy pizzas and dump them in the ocean to help with climate change. That is over $100 million in total spent on trying to ruin New York pizza owners.
The list of waste is spectacular. However, I will finish with this thought for you all to consider.
USAID, alongside California and Los Angeles, are examples of when groupthink takes over. For all the howls of screaming about Elon Musk being unelected, as a country we have had a political class governing us with unelected bureaucrats spending money like drunken sailors. Surely it is time to stop this nonsense and to reform government spending, so it goes on the people’s priorities such as feeding the starving and ensuring we have water to put out fires?
Neil Fitzgerald is an international nonprofit leader having served in the U.S., U.K. and globally for various nonprofit and charity boards. He served as a conservative council member in the U.K. and as a campaign manager. “Right Here, Right Now” regularly appears on Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
