Jeremy Portnoy (RealClearInvestigations)
Top line: Fifteen nonprofit organizations each received more than $1 billion in overseas non-military project funding from the federal government between 2013 and 2022, a new U.S. federal government report has found. Congressional Research Service.
Key Facts: Six thousand nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) receive grants and contracts from the United States Agency for International Development, but 20 percent of that funding goes to just 10 groups, four of which are for-profit companies.
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About $7 billion was paid out to two notably undeserving organizations.
The nonprofit research organization RTI International has received $2.3 billion for humanitarian projects around the world, despite past reports of problems with RTI’s spending.
Various audits Between 2006 and 2014, RTI allegedly invented “fictitious beneficiaries” to make its anti-malaria campaigns seem more effective than they actually were, the audit said. RTI also sent computers to schools in Nicaragua that had no electricity and billed the federal government for teachers’ salaries in Senegal that had already been paid.
Catholic Relief Services was the largest recipient of federal funding ($4.6 billion), singlehandedly accounting for more than half of all funding sent to religious organizations.
A Pennsylvania grand jury indicted six former directors. 2019 He was convicted of allowing sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Catholic Relief Services was also convicted in 2022. Discriminateagainst gay employees.
The federal government also sent $50 billion in foreign aid to entities whose names were removed from public databases, according to the report. Congress has provided $66 billion in foreign aid in total for fiscal year 2023.
background: The bulk of USAID’s funding is directed to the Middle East, reaching nearly $21 billion between 2021 and 2023. Open the Books.
This includes $1.4 billion in cash grants to Jordan, more than any other foreign country has received. The Congressional Research Service estimates Jordan’s budget assistance from 2013 to 2022 at more than $5 billion, but no other country has received more than $2 billion.
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OpenTheBooks also identified some strange efforts funded in the Middle East, including $3.3 million from the U.S. to “develop women’s entrepreneurship” in Gaza and $339,000 to convince Saudi Arabia not to keep cheetahs as pets.
summary: Supporting our allies is crucial for the United States, but that spending should be limited to legitimate organizations with a track record of good stewardship of taxpayer money.
#WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the Forensic Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
Distributed with permission From RealClearWire.
