Witnesses Criticize Wasteful and Politicized U.S. Foreign Aid

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.

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