Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE), opened a fiery hearing Wednesday, February 26, 2025, titled “America Last: How Foreign Aid Undermined U.S. Interests Around the World.”
In her remarks, Greene accused the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) of misusing billions in taxpayer dollars during the Biden administration to push a “radical agenda” abroad, often at odds with American interests.
Greene set the tone by arguing that U.S. foreign aid has been “weaponized and politicized” to fund extremist groups, censorship campaigns, and anti-democratic efforts rather than bolstering U.S. standing globally.
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“The American people have spoken,” she declared, pointing to President Donald Trump’s November 2024 victory as a rejection of a bureaucracy that’s “enslaved” citizens to fund globalist priorities over domestic needs.
Highlighting USAID’s $44 billion in aid across 160 countries in fiscal year 2023—and $240 billion to 181 countries over Biden’s four years—Greene questioned the results. “Has the world become safer? No. More stable? No. Is the perception of the United States better? No,” she said.
Instead, she alleged, funds have supported Hamas through the UN, aided the Taliban in Afghanistan, and bankrolled projects like a $70,000 DEI musical in Ireland and a $50,000 transgender opera in Colombia—initiatives she called out as irrelevant to American taxpayers.
Greene painted a stark contrast between private generosity—Americans donated over $557 billion in 2023—and what she described as USAID’s misuse of public funds.
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“They can choose if they want to privately donate to a transgender salon in Mumbai… or to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” she said. “The Democrat-run USAID should not get to use our federal government as their party piggy bank.”
She noted that 96% of USAID employees’ political donations went to Democrats, framing the agency as a partisan tool.
The chairwoman didn’t hold back on specifics, claiming USAID’s “dark truth” includes funneling money to terrorists and advancing “anti-democratic principles” like election interference and censorship. She cited aid to Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Israel, and Somalia as top recipients under Biden, arguing it’s yielded little for U.S. security or influence.
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Greene wrapped up by praising Trump’s swift moves to redirect foreign aid toward “America First” priorities, vowing that the DOGE Subcommittee would back him up.
“He is putting an end to the foreign aid slush fund, ensuring that hardworking taxpayers’ dollars are taking care of our own people at home,” she said. The hearing, she signaled, is just the start of a broader push to overhaul how U.S. aid is spent.
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