Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida has introduced legislation to abolish the United States Agency for International Development.
The USAID describes itself as “the world’s premier international development agency.” It claims to advance America’s national security and economic prosperity while also demonstrating “American generosity.” The organization was formed through the passage of the Foreign Assitance Act of 1961 from several separate foreign assistance associations and programs.
“American taxpayer dollars are being wasted to fund radical leftist propaganda in foreign countries,” said Gaetz in a statement released on Aug. 1. “The American people will not tolerate government-funded degeneracy at home, and we certainly will not accept its force-feeding abroad under Old Glory.”
“USAID does not serve a meaningful purpose. It is used as a slush fund for international wokeism,” he continued. “Therefore, serious lawmakers in Congress should support its complete abolition.”
Gaetz referenced a report published by The Heritage Foundation on May 10, 2022 that argued that the Biden administration’s use of taxpayer-generated funding via USAID “weaponizes foreign aid programs to fund abortion, gender and identity ideology, and climate alarmism.”
According to the report:
Under the Administration of President Donald Trump, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) pursued an agenda based on traditional American values that avoided injecting divisive socio-political issues into its humanitarian, global health, and development responses. In doing so, it maintained traditional bipartisan support for foreign aid…
In sharp contrast, during its first year in power, the Biden Administration has dispensed aggressively with bipartisan comity, treating the U.S. foreign aid apparatus as a global platform from which to implement overseas a rigidly ideological and domestically divisive agenda to promote abortion, climate action, “gender equity,” and “racial justice,” goals that are likely to undermine the economic prospects and self-reliance of USAID’s beneficiaries, while also likely undermining the long-standing bipartisan congressional support for continued foreign aid funding.
Gaetz’s bill calls for the abolishment of USAID and for the transfer of an asset or liabilities to the Secretary of State.
Co-sponsors of the bill include Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, Congressman Eli Crane of Arizona, Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.
Gaetz introduced legislation to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) in January after the agency increased regulation on pistol-stabilizing braces. Gaetz said the ruling unfairly punished disabled gun owners and veterans who need the brace.
“The recent actions from the ATF essentially allow them to make case-by-case determinations on whether a pistol with a stabilizing brace is legal or an unlawful, sawed-off shotgun,” he said, per Fox News. “The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on the actions they’re taking to convert otherwise law-abiding people into felons.”
The Florida congressman then floated the possibility of abolishing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice while appearing at CPAC in March.
