During consideration of a veterans healthcare bill (S. 3373), Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment to offset the cost of a Veterans’ Benefits for Toxic Exposure bill by prohibiting USAID from distributing foreign-aid funds, other than to Israel, for 10 years. Paul defended his proposition with examples of USAID waste, including a $50 million “Visit Tunisia” program and a $37 million project designed to get “Filipinos back to school.”
The Senate rejected Paul’s amendment on August 2, 2022 by a vote of 7 to 90 (Roll Call 277). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the United States cannot afford to give aid to the rest of the world (in fact, the United States must borrow the money it gives away, since it is operating in the red), and there is no constitutional authorization to do so.
