The more the Department of Government Efficiency - the DOGE - digs in, the more troubling things they find. This was not unexpected. In one of the latest examples, the House of Representatives DOGE Subcommittee, in questioning from Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN), heard some shocking details on how the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was delivering American taxpayer dollars to Islamic terror groups.
Let's look at a key excerpt. In this, Rep. Burchett questions the Executive Director of the Middle East Forum, Gregg Roman:
Rep. Tim Burchett: Mr. Roman, are you aware that we are sending $40 million a week to the Taliban?
Gregg Roman: Yes, sir.
TB: Can you name other instances of foreign aid going to terrorist organizations?
GR: We have assisted Al-Shabaab in Somalia, there's been instances of the Hamzi network in Sudan, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in Syria. Dozens of terror organizations have received indirect assistance from US foreign aid.
TB: Could you elaborate a little on the mechanisms in place to stop foreign aid from going to terrorist groups and why are they not working if we have any in place? (Goes on to explain a graphic display of terrorist weapons and explosives.)
GR: Let's use Gaza as our case study. $2.1 billion in American taxpayers' money to Gaza since October 7th when Hamas invaded southern Israel. USAID money was going in terms of an emergency use authorization to try to go to parties that USAID formerly had a relationship with in the Gaza Strip. That had to have been vetted by (Office of Foreign Assets Control) OFAC, they should have been vetted against the special designated terror list from the State Department and from other Treasury organizations. Waivers were granted because they said that there was an emergency use to have that money come into Gaza, thereby jettisoning the usual, typical screening procedures. As a result, 90 percent of aid that was going from the United States by way of its agents in Gaza ended up in Hamas-controlled areas.
The hearing, conducted by the newly-minted House DOGE Subcommittee, goes on in that disturbing vein.
See Related: DOGE Hearing: MTG Remarks About Criminal Referrals, Fireworks With Dem Rep.
This money, I should remind you, is American taxpayer money. The federal government, with the full force and power of government behind it, takes that money from us every year and borrows more on top of that - and this is the use to which a lot of that money is being put. To call that a misuse of taxpayers' money is akin to describing Napoleon's invasion of Russia as a "bad idea." In funding these organizations, no matter how indirectly, no matter how many cutouts this "aid" goes through, USAID is breaking faith with the American taxpayers - not that we have ever had much faith in the foreign aid apparatus in the first place.
Earlier this week, President Trump signed another executive order giving the DOGE some more teeth:
See Related: Now It's Official: President Trump Signs EO Instructing DOGE to Cut Gov't Depts' Non-Essential Expenses
Reducing spending is enough reason for this effort. We haven't yet seen a plan for reducing the federal debt, but when you're in a ($36 trillion deep) hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging. The DOGE seems to be making a good start at that - and now, we learn, it's exposing some illigitimate support for some very unsavory groups, as well. That, also, is worth doing.