U.S. Congressman Scott Perry has accused the U.S. aid agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), of funding terrorist organizations, including Boko Haram.
Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, made this assertion during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on Thursday.
The session, titled “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,” addressed concerns about the alleged misappropriation of taxpayer funds.
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“Who gets some of that money? Does that name ring a bell to anybody in the room? Because your money, your money, $697 million annually, plus the shipments of cash funds in Madrasas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS Khorasan, terrorist training camps. That’s what it’s funding,” Perry said.
The subcommittee’s website states that it will “collaborate closely with President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency to eliminate waste, strengthen vulnerable payment systems, and thoroughly investigate schemes aimed at defrauding taxpayers.”
Perry also highlighted USAID’s reported allocation of $136 million for the construction of 120 schools in Pakistan, claiming there is “zero evidence” that the schools were ever built.
Perry added, ” If you think that the programme under Operation Enduring Sentinel entitled Women’s Scholarship Endowment, which receives $60 million annually, or the Young Women Lead, which gets about $5 million annually, is going to women who, by the way, if you read the Inspector General’s report, is telling you that the Taliban does not
allow women to speak in public, yet somehow you’re believing, and American people are supposed to believe, that this money is going for the betterment of the women in Afghanistan. It is not.
“You are funding terrorism, and it’s coming through USAID. And it’s not just Afghanistan, because Pakistan’s right next door.
“USAID spent $840 million in the last year, the last 20 years, on Pakistan’s education-related programme. It includes $136 million to build 120 schools, of which there is zero evidence that any of them were built. Why would there be any evidence? The Inspector General can’t get in to see them.
“But you know what? We doubled down and spent $20 million from USAID to create educational television programs for children unable to attend the physical school. Yeah, they can’t attend it, because it doesn’t exist. You paid for it.
“Somebody else got the money. You are paying for terrorism. This has got to end.”
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has previously called for the closure of USAID, accusing the agency of corruption in a post on his Truth Social platform. This call is part of Trump’s and his billionaire ally Elon Musk’s efforts to reduce the size of the U.S. government.
Musk, whom Trump appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, has also criticized USAID, claiming the agency conducts rogue operations. He has described USAID as “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America” and has pledged to shut it down.
Among other criticisms, Musk has alleged that USAID performs “rogue CIA work” and even “funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people.”
Trump has stated that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excessive regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies,” all of which are vital to the “Save America” movement.
He added that these efforts would create significant disruption, affecting many people involved in government waste.
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