Sen. Kennedy: Americans understand what DOGE is doing, and why it is needed
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana.
From the office of
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy
R-Louisiana
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) explained why many Americans support the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to uncover wasteful spending at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a speech on the Senate floor.
Key excerpts of the speech are below:
• “[Americans] have had to live through 20-percent inflation under President Biden. They understand what [Elon] Musk is doing. They understand spending on porn and wasting taxpayer money.
• “Now, Mr. Musk started with USAID. He found that USAID gave money to support electric vehicles in Vietnam – our money, taxpayer money. He found that USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. I didn’t know that. I bet you the American people didn’t know that.
• “He found that USAID gave $1.5 million to a Serbian LGBTQ group. They got $1.5 million to ‘advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.’
"What else did Mr. Musk find that my colleagues don’t want to talk about?”
• “Now, I am not saying everything that USAID does is wasted, but I am saying a lot of it is – a hell of a lot of it is – and we ought to be on the floor of this United States Senate thanking Mr. Musk, and we ought to be asking him to go through every agency and look at everybody’s budget – everybody’s budget.
“That is what the American people want. They don’t want to talk about process. They don’t want to continue with the Washington way. They want to save some money.”
Watch Kennedy’s full speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mot_MXlGd4w
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Related information
For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.
Here are only a few examples of the waste and abuse:
• $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”
• $70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland.
• $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam.
• $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia.
• $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru.
• $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala.
• $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt.
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit 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.
The list literally goes on and on — and it has all been happening for decades.