'I Think That's Hilarious': Rich McCormick Tees Off On Democrats' Foreign Aid Rhetoric

5 months ago

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) questioned undersecretary of state Allison Hooker about foreign aid efforts.

Transcript

00:00Representative yields back.

00:01Chair recognizes.

00:02Representative McCormick.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:08And thank you for being here today with us.

00:11I was kind of chuckling to myself to watch people

00:13kind of walk in here, ask you a bunch of questions,

00:16not allow you to answer and then leave.

00:19Basically painting this administration yourself

00:21as somebody who has no feelings towards anybody else

00:23or the world or any impact on the United States, which

00:26is absolutely ridiculous.

00:29I think a lot of people right now are getting confused

00:31between American first and American only interests

00:35around the world.

00:35I think we just recently passed a bill that

00:38shored up our support for the Cox Bazar region

00:41with about a million Rohingyan refugees from Myanmar

00:46in about 13 square kilometers, which I visited last year,

00:49which with great interest, we have about 26 million refugees

00:53around the world right now that are displaced

00:55that could cause great upheaval in the social fabric

00:58of the world, which could impact us financially

01:00and otherwise, which I'm sure you're well aware of,

01:02especially with your expertise.

01:05For those who don't realize how this plays out,

01:10a person in the Cox Bazar Rohingyan refugee camp survives

01:14off about $8 per person per month, per month, $8 per person per month.

01:20A lot of that's from our aid and other people's aides around the world.

01:25Let's compare that to a Biden administration that a person who comes across

01:30the southern border and then gets put into a non-forbid contract where they put

01:34somebody on a cot and give them three meals a day for $800 per person per day.

01:40And then they want to criticize us for mismanagement.

01:47I think that's hilarious.

01:48I want you to comment on the ridiculous statements that you were not allowed to

01:52given response to on our ways fraud and abuse as if we're the bad guys in this

01:58when comparing those two examples that are a blatant disregard for factual content.

02:02I'm going to give you the remainder of my time to respond to things that the other side have not

02:08given you an opportunity up to this point. With that, it's your floor.

02:12Congressman, thank you so much for your question.

02:15And thank you for your interest in the Rohingya and the region.

02:18I will start by saying that part of what we've done with our foreign assistance so far

02:23is to provide $77 million to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

02:29And we care very deeply about that issue and will continue to work with our Bureau of South and Central Asia

02:35to address those issues and also with other partners in the region to look for ways to bring care and comfort to the refugees there.

02:43So I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

02:47There have been so many questions I've not been able to respond to.

02:50I'm trying to figure out which one might be the most fun to react to.

02:55But just to your initial question about the kinds of foreign assistance that we have terminated,

03:02I'd just like to run through a couple of those programs.

03:04Maybe a couple of them have been mentioned already today.

03:08But there was $1.5 million to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia's workplace

03:14in business communities under the previous administration, under USAID performance.

03:23There was $70,000 for production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $2.5 million for electric vehicles

03:32in Vietnam, $47,000 for transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book

03:41in Peru, $2 million for sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala, $6 million to fund tourism

03:48in Egypt.

03:52I was asked to provide a list of these kinds of programs that we've ended and made sure will

04:00not resurface under our leadership and under the reorganization.

04:06We will provide a full list of that.

04:08But I'd just like to say that it is the President's greatest privilege and his highest priority to

04:16make sure that the American people are best and well served, not just here domestically,

04:22but abroad, and that taxpayer dollars are being spent well and in a way that the American people

04:28can be proud of.

04:30This reorganization, as I mentioned in my opening statement, was not aimed just to respond to

04:37Representative Sherman's question, was not aimed at eliminating the expertise out of the

04:46State Department.

04:47The State Department remains full of very capable experts, people that I'm very proud to continue

04:55to serve with.

04:56The reorganization was aimed at reducing redundancies and to make sure that we've streamlined the

05:02policy process so that we can execute effectively and efficiently on the President's priorities

05:09both at home and abroad.

05:12Thank you, Congressman, for your question.

05:13And thank you.

05:14I just want to point out once again, just reinforce, all that money, DEI, musicals, operas, comic books

05:21and transitions abroad, I rest my case with that I yield.

'I Think That's Hilarious': Rich McCormick Tees Off On Democrats' Foreign Aid Rhetoric

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