OMB freezes all disbursements / USAID shutdown / GOP begs for exceptions for their states

[rodoheel]

Well, the fact that you use the term cherry picked implies that you also are inclined to believe that the claims are true. The dollar amount is irrelevant when you're talking about spending taxpayer money.

I don't know how you got to the term cherry-picked implying that I believe the claims. I am referring to the fact that the press secretary picked four purported individual grants that collectively account for like 0.01% of USAID's budget (which itself is less than 1% of the federal budget) which were doubtlessly selected because they seemed, to the people doing the selecting, like they could be characterized as the four craziest things done with USAID money. I do not trust in any way that the way in which Trump's secretary described those grants is completely accurate, and wouldn't be surprised if it isn't remotely accurate at all.

Anybody who thinks that $30k of USAID money going to fund a play in Ireland, or whatever the heck she's talking about, is a problem worth getting worked up about is an absolute fool. Candidly I couldn't care less what the play is about.

 

[rodoheel]

Eliminating the Department of Education is not going to play out like these ghouls think it will.

I dunno. Conservatives have been trying to defund, undermine, and ultimately destroy public education for decades. That's a feature, not a bug.

 

[superrific]

Depends on your personal moral compass, I suppose. From a board perspective, it doesn't rise to hoping for an assassin to commit a murder.

That's a weird distinction. What about rooting for someone to break into Kennedy's house, pushes him down in the shower, robs the house and then Kennedy dies in a puddle of feces? Is that hoping for an assassination? Never mind, I won't belabor the point but you've committed yourself to an incoherent theoretical framework.

 

[superrific]

You’re making my point for me. The average person doesn’t know about the inner workings of the Department of Education. They don’t know what they do, but they will feel the effects of its elimination. The headlines and narrative for the average person will be: Trump eliminates Department of Education. At a time when the public education system is already struggling badly. Easy messaging for the Democrats, IMO.

agree with this.

 

[nycfan]

Rupar mistagged this clip but what Trump is saying here is interesting, though not about Musk: Trump Says he wants to investigate cost overruns on California rail lines “I built for a living and I built on time on budget uh it’s impossible that something could cost that much …” [that rail project has been a nightmare, but also seems like Trump wants to stick it to California any way he can]

Clip with corrected description

 

[ZenMode]

I don't know how you got to the term cherry-picked implying that I believe the claims. I am referring to the fact that the press secretary picked four purported individual grants that collectively account for like 0.01% of USAID's budget (which itself is less than 1% of the federal budget) which were doubtlessly selected because they seemed, to the people doing the selecting, like they could be characterized as the four craziest things done with USAID money. I do not trust in any way that the way in which Trump's secretary described those grants is completely accurate, and wouldn't be surprised if it isn't remotely accurate at all.

Anybody who thinks that $30k of USAID money going to fund a play in Ireland, or whatever the heck she's talking about, is a problem worth getting worked up about is an absolute fool. Candidly I couldn't care less what the play is about.

I posted about a dozen other wastes of taxpayer money. The percentage is irrelevant.

Waste is waste.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

Why start with a premise of accepting what Trump's propaganda officer cherry-picked out of all USAID grants? Why not seek out the actual information? And most of the examples she picked were such small amounts of money in the grand scheme of things that picking on them is laughable.

I agree its very small, but if true, it is an indication that some people at USAID are not being great stewards of tax-payer money. Its not nearly enough for me to want to end the program but its enough for me to want an investigation and if its true, hold people accountable for approving these programs.

 

[MOUNTAINH33L]

It's not like all this saved money is going back into the public coffers. This money will go to Trump, Elon and company. MAGA will cheer it too. Take that, libs!

 

[rodoheel]

I agree its very small, but if true, it is an indication that some people at USAID are not being great stewards of tax-payer money. Its not nearly enough for me to want to end the program but its enough for me to want an investigation and if its true, hold people accountable for approving these programs.

Perhaps you can elaborate on (1) what the problem would be if the description of those programs is true (even though it's highly likely that the description is not entirely true), and (2) what you mean by "hold people accountable" in this context?

 

[mpaer]

I agree its very small, but if true, it is an indication that some people at USAID are not being great stewards of tax-payer money. Its not nearly enough for me to want to end the program but its enough for me to want an investigation and if its true, hold people accountable for approving these programs.

It will be hard to investigate now that orangeturd has eliminated all Inspector Generals

 

[roostra]

Perhaps you can elaborate on (1) what the problem would be if the description of those programs is true (even though it's highly likely that the description is not entirely true), and (2) what you mean by "hold people accountable" in this context?

I agree its very small, but if true, it is an indication that some people at USAID are not being great stewards of tax-payer money. Its not nearly enough for me to want to end the program but its enough for me to want an investigation and if its true, hold people accountable for approving these programs.

I bet I can find 5-10 ridiculous uses of taxpayer funds in the military - does that mean we should dismantle it?

 

[superrific]

I bet I can find 5-10 ridiculous uses of taxpayer funds in the military - does that mean we should dismantle it?

We ridiculously spent money educating some of our MAGA mooks on this board and that has had a very low return. Negative, even.

 

[rodoheel]

I posted about a dozen other wastes of taxpayer money. The percentage is irrelevant.

Waste is waste.

First of all, you don't get to decide what is and isn't a "waste" of taxpayer money. And I'm confident you are not informed enough about this subject to make that determination.

Second of all, the percentage of "waste" is absolutely relevant when the remedy that Trump and Elon are proposing and implementing is the complete shutdown (and perhaps elimination) of the agency, and the freezing of all of its funding. if it were found that 0.1% of the money spent by USAID had been "wasted" by someone's determination, that would obviously be an incredibly small problem probably worthy of a couple of PowerPoint presentations about spending discipline, not an all-out public crusade against the organization and its mission (including Musk calling the organization criminal and accusing them not just of waste, but of fraud). You can't possibly be so dense to think that the examples you posted, even if true, are anything that should rise to the attention of a national media firestorm. Expecting some sort of mythical perfect efficiency out of government, where not a dollar is "wasted," is obviously completely unrealistic.

To paraphrase Jamie Raskin, if you really want to find wasting of taxpayer dollars, you can probably go over to DOD and find a half-dozen boondoggles that involve questionable expenditures that are orders of magnitude greater than the pittances you're talking about.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

Perhaps you can elaborate on (1) what the problem would be if the description of those programs is true (even though it's highly likely that the description is not entirely true), and (2) what you mean by "hold people accountable" in this context?

1. I don't feel like they are the best use of our foreign aid tax dollars compared to feeding starving people, offering medical care, etc. 2. Censure them or fire them or vote in different politicians.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

I bet I can find 5-10 ridiculous uses of taxpayer funds in the military - does that mean we should dismantle it?

Not in my opinion. And I don't think those programs are enough to dismantle USAID, like I mentioned in the post you quoted.

 

[ZenMode]

First of all, you don't get to decide what is and isn't a "waste" of taxpayer money. And I'm confident you are not informed enough about this subject to make that determination.

Second of all, the percentage of "waste" is absolutely relevant when the remedy that Trump and Elon are proposing and implementing is the complete shutdown (and perhaps elimination) of the agency, and the freezing of all of its funding. if it were found that 0.1% of the money spent by USAID had been "wasted" by someone's determination, that would obviously be an incredibly small problem probably worthy of a couple of PowerPoint presentations about spending discipline, not an all-out public crusade against the organization and its mission (including Musk calling the organization criminal and accusing them not just of waste, but of fraud). You can't possibly be so dense to think that the examples you posted, even if true, are anything that should rise to the attention of a national media firestorm. Expecting some sort of mythical perfect efficiency out of government, where not a dollar is "wasted," is obviously completely unrealistic.

To paraphrase Jamie Raskin, if you really want to find wasting of taxpayer dollars, you can probably go over to DOD and find a half-dozen boondoggles that involve questionable expenditures that are orders of magnitude greater than the pittances you're talking about.

I'm all for finding waste everywhere. The problem is, the go-along-to-get-along Congress doesn't care about waste, nor have they, to any meaningful degree, for a long time.

So, if the president has the authority to not fund DEI programs in Serbia and LGBTQ comic books... great.

It may be small, but at least it's something and these ridiculous (yes, my opinion) pet projects are being exposed.

 

[sringwal]

If any of the claims about USAID are true, it needs to be closely reviewed. For example, I don’t want to give another cent to Serbia to promote DEI….if that’s actually happening.

Here are only a few examples of the WASTE and ABUSE:

• $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

How Much Does Elon Musk Make a Day, Hour, and Second?

Discover how much Elon Musk makes daily, hourly, and even per second. Learn about his wealth accumulation, fluctuations, and how his earnings compare to other top earners

plisio.net

 

[gtyellowjacket]

It will be hard to investigate now that orangeturd has eliminated all Inspector Generals

I know. I thought that was a mistake. Trump could have reprioritized those folks and still gotten his headlines and we would have kept experienced investigators.

But I wonder if this would have been outside their purview. My understanding is that IG looks for fraud and waste, but not necessarily bureaucrats making questionable decisions on the use of tax-payer funds.

 

[superrific]

I know. I thought that was a mistake. Trump could have reprioritized those folks and still gotten his headlines and we would have kept experienced investigators.

But I wonder if this would have been outside their purview. My understanding is that IG looks for fraud and waste, but not necessarily bureaucrats making questionable decisions on the use of tax-payer funds.

This is going to surprise you, I'm sure, but it does not seem as though you understand what the Inspectors General do.

The reason we have civil service protections is so that government employees can do their jobs to the best of their abilities without this sort of second-guessing from ignorant fools. You have no idea why any of those programs were funded. You have no idea what they are set to accomplish, whether they were part of a package, whether they were subject to negotiations, whether they were requested by the recipient countries, or anything else. You want to judge an expense by its line item. What if the line item were "Wonderful wonderful things"

Whatever. Talking to you is like talking to a small child.

 

[sringwal]

You’re making my point for me. The average person doesn’t know about the inner workings of the Department of Education. They don’t know what they do, but they will feel the effects of its elimination. The headlines and narrative for the average person will be: Trump eliminates Department of Education. At a time when the public education system is already struggling badly. Easy messaging for the Democrats, IMO.

Incorrect. This is the narrative they are going to see:

Trump preparing to majorly revamp Department of Education as math, reading scores show stunning lows

President Donald Trump is preparing to revamp the Department of Education after math, reading scores show stunning lows, Tiffany Justice told 'Fox & Friends' on Tuesday.

www.foxnews.com

Department of Education doled out over $200M to universities to inject DEI into counseling courses: report

A report from Parents Defending Education alleges that since 2021, the Department of Education has awarded over $200 million to 53 universities for DEI programs.

www.foxnews.com

Trump's Ed Department Ends Biden's Title IX Social Experiment

The Ed Department announced it will end Biden's dangerous sexual and social Title IX experiments on America's school children.

thefederalist.com