American taxpayer dollars have funded regime change in Hungary and housing and transportation for immigrants in the United States, among other left-wing agendas, as discussed during testimony in Tuesday’s House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight hearing.
The subcommittee held the hearing to examine “How Leftist Nonprofit Networks Exploit Federal Tax Dollars to Advance a Radical Agenda.” CRC President Scott Walter, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Mike Gonzalez, and Daily Signal Senior Editor Tyler O’Neil spoke against the misuse of taxpayer dollars funneled to non-government organizations (NGOs). Ambassador Luis C.deBaca defended the work of NGOs and called on Congress to “restore” USAID to intervene in causes abroad.
In his opening statement, O’Neil detailed how tax dollars fund the left’s “dark money network,” forcing “taxpayers to foot the bill for activist causes they may disagree with.” Walter noted in his opening remarks that the NGOs that sued the Trump administration “in its first month” received more than $1.6 billion in tax funds under Biden. Gonzalez explained connections between USAID and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, noting that Soros has considerably backed “efforts to fight traditional Western values.”
Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., in the hearing’s opening question, asked the conservative witnesses, “What are some of the worst federal grants that the Biden-Harris administration approved?”
O’Neil responded that funding for the “immigration industrial complex” concerned him most, citing the Heritage Foundation. Heritage determined in 2022 that Biden was not just mismanaging the border but also allowing federally funded NGOs to funnel illegal immigrants into every congressional district in the U.S. except one. The study notes that the systematic resettling of illegal immigrants brought with it terrorists, criminals, and deadly drugs.
Gonzalez pointed to USAID grants that funded regime change and opposition media in Hungary, a NATO ally. The Hungarian government has accused USAID of interfering in their 2022 election via funds given to Action for Democracy, a non-profit which promotes a left-wing agenda in the name of global democracy. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, who was re-elected for his fourth term in 2022, is an outspoken Christian and conservative. Gonzalez noted that Orban is “very pro-U.S.” and the “left doesn’t like him.” Orban fully supports President Trump’s effort to expose USAID.
Walter referred the congressman to CRC’s DOGE Files database, which aggregates the “most egregious examples” of government spending. Examples in the database include USAID funding for “independent media” in the Balkans, “journalism” in Armenia, combating so-called “disinformation” in Central Asia, and “media development” in Cambodia, costing the American people a combined total of $24.7 million.
CRC’s database also details how the Biden administration “set aside or spent” more than $1.6 billion “since the start of fiscal year 2021 for grants, contracts, direct payments, and loans to programs that use the keyword ‘transgender’ in their description, name, or other filing information.” This amount reveals “the ascendant power of DEI in government departments under the Biden administration,” according to CRC. The CRC identified $145 million in “payments and obligations” for transgenderism specifically, most of which funded medical research to study the various psychological and physical maladies plaguing transgender individuals. Some of the money funded programs designed to encourage children to “explore their gender identity” or pair them with a “transgender ‘adult mentor.'”
In her opening statement, ranking member Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, called the hearing a “political stunt” and something out of a “conspiracy blog.” She defended USAID expenditures as Americans exerting “soft power” to prevent foreigners from being radicalized against the Western world.
Ranking Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin, D–Md., mocked Texas Rep. Chip Roy, saying “pointing fingers is for losers” in his opening remarks. He suggested none of the witnesses’ written testimonies alleged a “single crime” and called the hearing an “absurd waste of time.” Within the remainder of his time, Raskin ranted about “climate change” and gun violence, attacked the immigration-enforcement operations of ICE, and berated the Trump administration over the Epstein files.
Toward the end of the hearing, Committee Chair Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., noted that, while some of it “very well may be illegal,” the NGO activity discussed is “at the very, very least … disturbing, distasteful, and of concern.” He stressed the hearing took place because the American people “deserve to know about this disturbing information” and where their tax dollars are going.
When asked if there is “one reform Congress should pursue to stop the hijacking of federal dollars that is this extreme,” Walter and Gonzalez called for “greater transparency” for where tax dollars go and audits of the programs they go to, respectively. O’Neil called on Congress to “stop funding groups that also lobby the federal government.”
Despite ongoing Democrat opposition, Trump’s administration remains dedicated to eradicating wasteful government spending. The rescissions package that would codify DOGE cuts has already passed the House and Senate Republicans have until Friday to revise or pass the bill.
Jacqueline Annis-Levings is a correspondent for the Federalist. She is a rising junior at Patrick Henry College, where she is majoring in English.