Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) accuses USAID of engaging in 'willful sabotage of congressional oversight' and highlights instances of wasteful spending, including funding for Moroccan pottery classes, trips to Lebanon, and research in the Wuhan lab. Ernst cites concerns about USAID's obstruction of investigations and its handling of taxpayer funds, alleging that the agency overbilled the US and possibly provided aid to terrorists. She calls for a full and independent analysis of USAID recipients.
has engaged in “willful sabotage of congressional oversight ” over recent years while doling out taxpayer dollars to groups that overbilled the US and possibly gave funds to terrorists,This includes $2 million in funding related to Moroccan pottery classes, some $2 million backing trips to Lebanon, over $1 million to fund research in the Wuhan lab, $20 million to make a Sesame Street in Iraq and $9 million in humanitarian aid that “ended up in the hands of violent terrorists.
Chemonics had been heavily involved in a $9.5 billion USAID initiative to beef up global health supply chains, which ultimately ended in dozens of arrests and indictments over the resale of agency-funded products on the black market.“Overbilling the United States taxpayer, while very serious, is not the most eyebrow-raising allegation Chemonics faces,” she added.
She noted that her team also learned that over 5,000 Ukrainian businesses garnered taxpayer funds of up to $2 million each. Another example of her team being lied to by the USAID occurred three years ago when she reached out for data on the agency’s Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements with grant recipients that permitted them to use funding on miscellaneous expenses.
USAID Congressional Oversight Wasteful Spending Terrorist Funding Investigations
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