Clueless lefty protesters interrupted a Thursday hearing into the controversial government organization US Agency for International Development (USAID) and demanded that the Trump administration restore funding for a life-saving AIDS assistance program — without realizing it had been spared from the president’s foreign aid freeze.
“PEPFAR saves lives. Restore AIDS funding now,” the protesters shouted during opening statements at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
PEPFAR, or the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is a global AIDS relief program created by George W. Bush that’s credited with saving more than 20 million lives.
Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) savaged the ignorant demonstrators for not even understanding what they were protesting — and urged them to read beyond progressive news outlets.
“I guess these guys don’t watch the news. They didn’t realize that PREPFAR was one of the many programs that did prove to be life-saving so the funding was restored,” Mast said.
“Somebody better give them a link to, I don’t know, Fox News or something like that,” he then quipped.
Trump, hours after he was sworn in for his second term on Jan 20, signed an executive order putting a 90-day freeze on foreign aid — including PEPFAR, the world’s leading HIV initiative.
However, the State Department then announced that the program was among certain relief services covered by a waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance, allowing access to HIV treatment for people in 55 countries worldwide that are funded by the US.
“This urgent decision recognizes PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in response on Feb. 1.
Trump called to halt USAID funds after finding that the agency, which he has described “incompetent and corrupt,” had wasted billions on lefty schemes in recent years.
The president has tasked the world’s richest man Elon Musk, head of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with reviewing and scaling down the agency to strengthen Trump’s “America First” agenda.
USAID came under fire this week after it was revealed it shelled out thousands to send an al-Qaeda terrorist with ties to 9/11 hijackers to college in America — an education he used to help recruit and groom terrorists.
American-born jihadist Anwar al-Awlaki received “full funding” to attend Colorado State University in 1990, USAID documents show.
Meanwhile, the Trump admin acted last week to put most of USAID’s workforce on administrative leave before a judge blocked the move on Friday.
Its staff of 10,000 people employed internationally is expected to be slashed to just around 300.
Trump also on Wednesday fired Paul Martin, who had served as the inspector general for USAID since 2023 — a day after details resurfaced that the agency had funded al-Awlaki’s education.
With Post Wires
Read the full article here
