USAID wasted millions on Ukrainian pet products and fashion junkets, Sen. Ernst says
At first blush, it might be difficult to connect dog collars with Ukraine’s war against Russia.
But according to data compiled by Sen. Joni Ernst, the U.S. Agency for International Development spent $300,000 of American taxpayers’ money in 2022 to boost the Ukrainian pet alliance, which markets the country’s products in the West.
USAID also committed American taxpayers’ money to several other Ukrainian concerns: $150,000 to a knitwear company, $255,000 to an organic coffee and tea producer, $89,000 to a vineyard and $1 million to a carpet company.
Ms. Ernst calls the money the “misallocated millions” and says it went to projects that stretched well beyond basic U.S. national interests.
Her revelations come as USAID is under intense scrutiny for its spending practices.
President Trump is pursuing a shutdown of the agency, saying it’s run itself off the rails by paying for things well beyond what Congress intended.
Ms. Ernst, Iowa Republican and chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, said she’s been trying to pry loose data on USAID’s spending but was met with stonewalling.
The agency refused her request for a list of recipients of taxpayers’ money, claiming it was classified information, the senator said.
Eventually, USAID allowed her staff to review documents in a secure room at the agency’s headquarters — and it turned out none of the information was classified, Ms. Ernst said.
She said the reason for the hush-hush behavior was probably embarrassment at what the agency had been funding.
“We learned that the aid intended to alleviate economic distress in the war-torn nation was spent on such frivolous activities as sending Ukrainian models and designers on junkets to New York City, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas,” the senator said.
Across the U.S. Capitol in the House, lawmakers were scheduled to hear about more nefarious USAID failures, such as a criminal case accusing the agency of releasing millions of dollars in food assistance that ended up going to feed Syrian terrorists.
