TRENTON, NJ— Congressman Jeff Van Drew is calling for an end to what he calls “bizarre, dysfunctional” government spending abroad, urging that taxpayer dollars be redirected to benefit Americans.
Van Drew’s statement comes as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seeks to identify waste and fraud in federal programs. DOGE does not make budget cuts; however, it makes recommendations to Congress and the White House.
“Washington bureaucrats have been wasting the American people’s hard-earned money for far too long,” Van Drew said, emphasizing the importance of targeted spending cuts that do not jeopardize critical programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Van Drew criticized several unnecessary expenditures, including $15 million for condoms for the Taliban, $2 million for LGBTQ activism in Guatemala, $1.5 million for DEI initiatives in Serbian workplaces, and $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam.
Other expenses criticized included $70,000 for a DEI music festival in Ireland, $446,700 to promote atheism in Nepal, and $47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia. He also raised domestic spending concerns, such as $14 million in cash vouchers for illegal immigrants at the southern border.
“We cannot continue to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need,” Van Drew said, arguing that taxpayer money should be used to help American families rather than foreign aid and bureaucratic programs. He also advocated for the elimination of taxes on Social Security, tips, and overtime pay.