ICYMI: McCaul Discusses Foreign Aid and Returning USAID to Its Core Mission Principles on CBS' "Face The Nation"
WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees — joined CBS' "Face the Nation" with Margaret Brennan to discuss the need to restore U.S. foreign aid to its original mission: countering our adversaries. He also discussed the need to protect our Afghan allies, whom the Biden administration abandoned during its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
Excerpts from the interview:
On the Biden administration’s misuse of USAID funds:
"The confusion, I think, goes back to the Biden administration when they started to implement these woke policies of drag queen shows in Ecuador, when they started [funding] LGBTQIA programs like, say, in Latin American countries, [and lawsuits against] Catholic governments, promoting atheism in Nepal, where you have Tibetan Buddhist monks — this is what gave the USAID a black eye.
“I personally believe that USAID has a national security mission. If you go back to its inception in the '60s under President Kennedy and the Cold War, it was to counter the Soviet Union. We need to return to the core mission principles ... I put holds on all those programs I was talking about, [as they] had nothing to do with the central core mission."
On the need for implementation of foreign aid waivers:
"The secretary made waivers on humanitarian assistance and PEPFAR, which has been the most successful global health program ... The implementation of this is where I would urge the administration to move more expeditiously. I just got word ... that the World Food Program['s] waivers are now being implemented, that it is being executed, that food will be going out. But to your point, about $40 million in food [is] rotting in these warehouses in Houston, about 500,000 metric tons on ships, you know, on the sea. The peace through food program dates back to the '50s, after the Marshall Plan. It is to provide stability in fragile, unstable countries. It is to counter Russia, China, and terrorism. …
“Our foreign adversaries are looking at this. Just as they laughed at the [U.S. funding] Ecuador drag shows, they’re also questioning what’s happening now. And I think we need to have a strong presence in destabilized nations to keep out our adversaries.”
On the potential restructuring of USAID under the State Department:
'The administration has provided, by the way, notification and consultation with the Foreign Affairs Committee that I chaired, and that is required, under law. They have done that. I think if they decide to terminate, that's a whole other issue. My understanding is that they want to look at putting USAID underneath the State Department, which is not a novel concept — Madeleine Albright talked about this under Bill Clinton and Warren Christopher talked about this, even Joe Biden [in Congress] talked about this. I think putting it under State makes a lot of sense to me, to provide the direct supervision and oversight."
On keeping promises to protect our Afghan allies:
"I did a comprehensive investigation [on] the debacle of Afghanistan that the Biden administration was responsible for, including leaving our Afghan partners behind. I do believe that it was an unintended consequence that needs to be fixed. Look, we promised them we would protect them when they worked with our servicemen and women in Afghanistan. … And they have been vetted, by the way, Margaret. … They worked with our troops to defeat the Taliban, which unfortunately, Biden surrendered to. But it seems to me, we ought to live up to our word. Otherwise down the road in another conflict, no one's going to trust us."
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