U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, said she supports efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“I’ve been well aware for some time that USAID is an insidious organization that needed to be reined in, if not eliminated altogether,” Hageman told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview Tuesday.
The organization’s stated purpose is to strengthen U.S. influence abroad by providing money for humanitarian and economic purposes as well as for combating repressive regimes.
But Hageman, who voted in the last Congress to slash the group’s funding, says the organization has strayed into far-leftist politics and sometimes even sides with terrorist groups.
She said she agrees with Trump’s crackdown on the agency, carried out mainly by Elon Musk, which has included stop-work orders, firings, removal of computers and even a shutdown of the agency’s website.
‘Weaponized By Radical Liberals’
Hageman drew a major distinction between USAID, which is a U.S. government agency, and the United Nations group UNICEF that helps impoverished children.
USAID “isn’t necessarily an organization that is providing humanitarian aid; it might under some circumstances,” she said. “But this isn’t a UNICEF. This is an organization that has been weaponized by radical liberals … to pursue policies that in many cases are very anti-American.
“And I believe we need to have a freeze, until we can get a better understanding of what kind of programs they have been supporting out there … and whether there should be an entirely different approach.”
She noted USAID was established under an executive order by President John F. Kennedy rather than an act of Congress.
“It is a rogue agency,” Hageman said. “They’ve been supporting the Taliban. DEI issues that they have been supporting, policies they have been supporting … are in many ways very anti-American. They have been supporting the antisemitic riots on campuses. They have been sending money to Hamas.
“This organization has been funding both sides of a variety of wars for quite some time now, without any authorization by Congress, any oversight by Congress.”
Examples
Speaking outside the White House on Monday, Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave some egregious examples of USAID expenditures related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other programs.
Leavitt said $1.5 million was spent on DEI programs in Serbia, $70,000 was spent on a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 was expended for a transgender opera in Colombia and $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.
“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going toward this crap.”
Hageman said it’s time to rein in the agency and give it a thorough inspection.
“We need to have a freeze. We need to have a pause,” she said. “We need to see how they’re spending their money. And we need to take a step back and determine whether this is an agency that should exist at all.
“My knowledge, the information I have, is it should not. It should not be funded at all.”
