The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

In the grand scheme of the monstrously out-of-control spending to which the federal government is addicted, foreign aid is not huge, but it is perhaps the most offensive! Americans in dire need after natural disasters are nickel-and-dimed by officious and process-fixated federal disaster organizations like FEMA. Hell, there is a federal department specifically designed to assist Americans with navigating the labyrinth! The Disaster Assistance Improvement Program. That's nuts! And trying to get federal assistance through various other programs like the VA or Medicaid or the dozens of temporary assistance programs is a descent into a Catch-22, or a Russian novel!

Sending our tax dollars to foreign lands while simultaneously borrowing trillions of dollars each year to fund the federal government is an obscene insult, and perhaps America has had enough!

Musk Signals Support for Eliminating Foreign Aid

[...] Musk wrote that DOGE “will address this with full transparency for the American people.”

Ramaswamy also weighed in, saying that “Much of U.S. foreign aid isn’t even authorized by Congress.”

Humanitarian assistance is just one form of foreign aid the United States provides. Others include the direct provision of commodities and equipment, technical assistance, funding for infrastructure, and support for foreign governments and international organizations.

According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress appropriated $66.1 billion in foreign assistance for fiscal year 2023.

One of the clearest signals of a government that is out of control is multiple streams of funding through multiple departments to accomplish the same goal. We have overlapping programs that simply pump money into foreign governments and NGOs without oversight. And while Congress may have appropriated money for foreign aid, the people who decide which countries get it are more often than not unelected bureaucrats with a clear agenda that does not mesh with the desires of the American people.

And even with clear direction from Congress, it's mostly wasted! $6,000,000 in 2022 to boost Egyptian tourism?

When the security of Ukraine's border has a higher priority than our own border, something is broken. When Americans have no clean water three months after a devastating hurricane, something is broken. When our bridges are falling down and our roads are crumbling, something is broken.

Absent a clear national security need, there should be no foreign aid dollars spent by Congress until our own budget reflects the needs of Americans first.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments