By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 17:49 GMT, 13 February 2025 | Updated: 18:17 GMT, 13 February 2025
Shocking foreign aid spending on drag shows and other woke DEI projects abroad has been laid bare at a congressional hearing.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a session titled ‘The USAID Betrayal’ examining how the government agency, and the State Department, allocated tens of billions of dollars in recent years to ‘crazy wasteful’ programs.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has recently sought to dismantle USAID after pausing all foreign aid it distributed and discovering suspicious payments.
The agency employs roughly 10,000 workers and, after Musk discovered fraud and abuse, plans have been circulated to slash the workforce from thousands to just a few hundred.
That has prompted protests around the former USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C., and outrage from Democrats who claim the agency is fundamental to American ‘soft power’ overseas.
Kicking off the hearing chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.), played a video highlighting how U.S. taxpayer money went to fund a drag show workshop for Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador, what he called a clear example of how taxpayer funds had been wasted.
‘We are going to show to the American people exactly what they were doing, the videos, the documents, the everything, they are going to see it,’ Mast said. ‘Like $25,000 for a drag show seminar for Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador.’
Then, Mast played a clip showing a drag instructor named Gladys declaring that the shows are ‘a political tool’ and ‘a way of protesting.’
Alvaro, the man dressed in drag above, shared in a testimonial that the U.S. taxpayer program improved his mental health since he always wanted to try drag
The $25,000 workshop funded by USAID taught participants how to do their hair and make up for drag shows
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast watches screens inside the hearing room as the drag show testimonial video plays
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In the video, Gladys says: ‘There are people who already think about drag beyond just as the theme of the show, but also as a political tool, a tool to understand their own identities, an activist tool, a way of protesting, of raising one’s voice.’
The footage included men dressed in drag sharing why the $25,000 seminar, sponsored by American taxpayers, was so helpful.
Participants learned how to put on drag-styled hair and makeup, how to walk a runway and how to get dressed for shows.
One man even touts how the lessons improved his mental health because he ‘always wanted to learn to be drag.’
In addition to the U.S taxpayer funds allocated for the drag seminar in Ecuador, lawmakers railed against other diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expenditures deemed inappropriate.
Many Democrats did not seem to take issue with the rash of spending.
‘Not a single Democrat I’ve heard has expressed dismay at the many examples of crazy wasteful spending,’ Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), said.
On the other hand, Republicans repeatedly aired laundry lists of items they found to be outside the purview of USAID and the State Department.
A worker removes the signage outside the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) building after President Trump and Musk called for it to be shuttered
The seminar appeared to host roughly a dozen students
Gladys instructs a student on how to put on drag makeup
Republicans mentioned ‘$2 million to conduct sex change surgeries in Guatemala through a trans led organization.’
They cited another ‘$22 million to increase tourism in Tunisia and Egypt.’
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And a whopping ‘$520 million to pay consultants to teach people in Africa about climate change.’
Mast also mentioned ‘$4.5 million [spent] to teach people in Kazakhstan how to fight back against internet trolls.’
Many of the initiatives had to do with bolstering the LGBT community around the world.
‘$20,000 to help LGBT individuals vote in Honduran elections,’ was given out. So too was a ‘$5.4 million grant to shift public perception and attitudes in Uganda towards LGBT acceptance.’
An additional ‘$15 million to promote LGBT rights for individuals in Kenya,’ was also approved.
There has been some confusion over some of the spending.
Elon Musk noted Tuesday he wrongly blamed USAID for providing $50 million to Gaza for condoms. However, the massive shipment did not go to Palestinians, it went to the Gaza Province of Mozambique
A man walks past boxes of USAID humanitarian aid at a warehouse at the Tienditas International Bridge on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 21, 2019, on the border with Venezuela
California Democrat Brad Sherman noted how Musk mistakenly said Gaza received $50 million for condoms.
‘Musk admitted that it was just completely false,’ Sherman claimed.
Musk noted Tuesday he wrongly blamed USAID for providing $50 million to Gaza for condoms. The massive shipment did not go to Palestinians, instead it went to the Gaza Province of Mozambique.
Shortly after, Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett hit back on the Democrat’s condom comment.
‘The argument that condoms are not being distributed obviously has some holes in it,’ the Republican joked, citing an article from 1993 claiming that USAID distributed 800 million condoms that year.