Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) called out the Left’s “breathless, fake outrage” over the Trump administration’s efforts to root out and cut wasteful spending during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday.
Thursday’s full committee hearing, “The USAID Betrayal,” examined United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs and how they “betrayed” Americans.
According to the State Department, USAID’s mission is to “promote and demonstrate democratic values abroad and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world. ” However, under rigorous oversight from the Trump administration, USAID was found under the Biden administration to have been funding wasteful initiatives.
Despite the Trump administration identifying billions of dollars funding misaligned USAID initiatives, Democrats on Capitol Hill have resorted to criticizing the president’s hiring of billionaire Elon Musk to lead the efforts to root out wasteful spending.
Green called out his Democratic colleagues’ “objection” to the government’s “deep dive” into how it spends its money.
“This entire debate today and the crocodile tears from Democrats just goes to show what is wrong with this town. Not a single Democrat I have heard has expressed dismay over the many examples of crazy, wasteful spending,” Green said.
“I want the American people to understand how this works in Washington: As long as you are spending other people’s money, no one bats an eye, but the second you want to save taxpayers’ dollars, the swamp cries “wolf” or in this case “unprecedented constitutional crisis.” This breathless, fake outrage from the left is utterly insane—and you know what, the American people can see right through it,” Green added.
Green further pointed out that while America’s “generosity” and “blessing of giving aid to others” have historically been its “most valuable tools for diplomacy,” they have been “poisoned” in recent years by “lawless bureaucrats.”
“The corruption going on behind USAID’s doors has been a wakeup call for all Americans,” Green added.
At the beginning of the hearing, Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL-21) said the House Foreign Affairs Committee will continue to work to “bring in the people” who facilitated wasteful USAID programs, adding, “We are going to show to the American people exactly what they were doing. The videos, the documents, everything. They are going to see it.”
Watch Green’s full remarks:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
