Witnesses Criticize Wasteful and Politicized U.S. Foreign Aid

By | April 4, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5 (C-Fam) Expert witnesses told a Congressional subcommittee last week that U.S. overseas funds were being used in ways that create harmful consequences and intentionally used to spread controversial social agendas in recipient countries.

“The objective of foreign aid must be to end the need for it. Yet, years of humanitarian aid have destroyed the ability of countries to feed themselves,” said Max Primorac, former Acting Chief Operating Officer at USAID during the Trump Administration. Primorac, now with the Heritage Foundation, testified that poor Haitians told him, “It is hard to compete against free food.”

Primorac also criticized the use of foreign aid to push social agendas that are contentious both within the U.S. and abroad. He said, “We must deradicalize our aid programs. We must stop pushing DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion programs], abortion, and other gender policies overseas, norms that contradict those in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.”

Witnesses told the Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability that U.S. agencies are creating hostile work environments for those who do not subscribe to their political ideology, negatively impacting agency hiring and promotion criteria if they do not subscribe to the DEI ideologies.

The abortion issue also came up in a discussion about PEPFAR, the U.S. program to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide. Recently, controversy has arisen about the program’s implementing partners, including groups that promote abortion. Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, argued that pro-life restrictions on such groups receiving U.S. funding were causing harm. “PEPFAR gets less effective when the usual providers can’t be used because they also advise on sexual and reproductive health, and this also leads to more abortions worldwide.”

Kenny criticized the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy enacted by former President Donald Trump, subsequently rescinded by President Joe Biden. Despite claims by abortion proponents that it would lead to interruptions in health services for people in need, only a tiny number of foreign organizations refused U.S. funding to continue promoting and providing abortion, including the pro-abortion giants International Planned Parenthood Federation and MSI Reproductive Choices.

Jim Richardson, executive director to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and chairman of the Pompeo Foundation, agreed that America should stop working with UN agencies and for-profit contractors to distribute aid and prioritize working with local partners, including church-based NGOs. These grassroots organizations would deliver more impactful results and better align with the religious beliefs in countries where the U.S. provides aid.

All the witnesses stressed the importance of mandating transparency for all aid awards and sub-awards, especially after a recent government audit revealed that USAID could not track overhead charges totaling nearly $142 billion. Requiring public disclosure of aid allocations would enhance accountability, enable greater public scrutiny, ensure the efficient and effective use of taxpayer funds to address global challenges, and increase public trust in USAID.

Additionally, Rep. Grothman (R-WI), chairman of the National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, said, “The World Bank estimates that 20% of foreign aid is lost to corruption yearly, and 30% fails to reach its intended target.”

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