Into the Wood Chipper

Christianity Today’s Emily Belz worries, “Is This the End of USAID?”, before launching into a list of all the wonderful things the biggest humanitarian agency in the world does for the poor, sick and uneducated in the Third World. Her article’s title is a reference to Elon Musk’s remarks that certain government organizations would probably be going “into the wood chipper”, USAID among them. Belz quotes a former USAID employee who says, “Pray for what’s happening. People are dying every day because of this.”

Perhaps. It will take a little time and investigation to determine that. At this stage, it’s worth the risk to do the due diligence.

The Infamous Fact Sheet

A February 3 White House Fact Sheet highlighting waste and abuse at USAID included the following, which most of our readers will have seen reported elsewhere:

• $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
• $70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
• $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
• $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
• $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
• $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
• $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
• Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
• “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
• Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban

The regular funneling of cash to such dubious enterprises explains Mr. Musk’s enthusiasm for the wood chipper, especially in a nation running a $1.7 trillion annual deficit. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has talked about absorbing USAID into the State Department, meaning that any organizations and projects that are above board would likely continue. So let’s take a deep breath before we start flapping around like civil servants being declared surplus.

A Deep Breath

For example, the CT article mentions Samaritan’s Purse among worthy Christian organizations that receive USAID and are presumably at risk. However, Samaritan’s Purse, which received $90 million from USAID over the last four years, is not currently on the chopping block, as this article confirms. (Samaritan’s Purse also reported over $1.8 billion in assets in 2023, so they are better equipped than some organizations to weather an annual hit that amounts to less than 1.3% of their assets, and that’s assuming the worst ever happens.)

So then, not all USAID spending has been suspended, and there are court challenges to come.

Meanwhile, a second Christianity Today article by Timothy Dalrymple insists “Christianity Today Has Not Received USAID Funds”. “Never,” he says. He concedes CT did book an Employee Retention Tax Credit as a receivable in 2023 on the advice of auditors, but has yet to receive it. An article at The Blaze alleged this tax credit, booked as a “grant”, was for $1.8 million (that would retain quite a few employees), but did not claim it was through USAID.

This is not the first time CT is on record taking money from questionable sources. Dalrymple is probably technically correct that USAID was not involved in 2023. Last time around, the money was laundered through an Eli Lilly subsidiary.

A Hot Mess

USAID is only the tip of the iceberg. Many US government programs and institutions are a hot mess, and further investigation is bound to bring this out in due course — almost surely in grotesque detail. Sure, there will be misreporting from the right and the left, challenges from “fact checking” organizations purporting to disprove the claims of fraud, abuse and waste, and much squealing from people who make their living from tax dollars in the process.

Meanwhile, on Face the Nation, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast claimed, “10 to 30 cents on the dollar is what actually goes to aid, so there’s not enough command and control that’s going on with the way that [USAID is] set up currently.” That is a problem, though a common one in large aid organizations. There is simply way too much administrative overhead and other waste to justify to American taxpayers. President Trump was elected on a platform of cutting waste and fraud, and that is what’s going on.

Given these allegations, the question for Christians concerned for the poor in the Third World should not be “How can we stop the cuts to USAID?” It should be “How can we get a higher percentage of our donations to people in need more efficiently?” My own view is that this process should not involve government at all. There’s no reason any legitimate Christian organization needs to be siphoning funds from the taxes of citizens who don’t necessarily support the causes they champion and in most cases have no idea what they are paying for.