WASHINGTON (February 6, 2025) – WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) explained why many Americans support the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to uncover wasteful spending at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a speech on the Senate floor.
Key excerpts of the speech are below:
“[Americans] have had to live through 20% inflation under President Biden. They understand what [Elon] Musk is doing. They understand spending porn and wasting taxpayer money.
“Now, Mr. Musk started with USAID. . . . He found that USAID gave money to support electric vehicles in Vietnam—our money, taxpayer money. He found that USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. I didn’t know that. I bet you the American people didn’t know that.
“He found that USAID gave $1.5 million to a Serbian LGBTQ group. . . . They got $1.5 million to ‘advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.’ What else did Mr. Musk find that my colleagues don’t want to talk about?”
. . .
“Now, I am not saying everything that USAID does is wasted, but I am saying a lot of it is—a hell of a lot of it is—and we ought to be on the floor of this United States Senate thanking Mr. Musk, and we ought to be asking him to go through every agency and look at everybody’s budget—everybody’s budget.
“That is what the American people want. They don’t want to talk about process. They don’t want to continue with the Washington way. They want to save some money.”
Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.
