Under Biden administration’s new push to give foreign aid, taxpayer dollars could easily reach terrorists

Incoming chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican representative Michael McCaul of Texas, has a dire warning about millions of taxpayer dollars reaching “designated terrorists.”

McCaul’s concern comes from the Democrats’ rush to push aid dollars out the door. Authorized and announced late last year, Biden’s Treasury Department “rolled back safeguards on U.S. humanitarian aid, a move that is likely to pave the way for millions in taxpayer dollars to reach ‘designated terrorists, human rights abusers, and violent authoritarian regimes” reports the Washington Free Beacon, which quotes McCaul.

“By relaxing longstanding basic restrictions on the provision of aid to countries subject to U.S. sanctions, [the] action by the Biden administration increases the likelihood some of our assistance funding will go to designated terrorists, human rights abusers, and violent authoritarian regimes,” McCaul said in a statement. “I urge the administration to reverse this decision.”

McCaul and other Congressional officials say part of the recalibration includes the Department issuedauthorizations that will “inject U.S. taxpayer dollars into areas that have historically been subject to strict sanctions, including in China, Cuba, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Iran, and other conflict areas.”

The Washington Free Beacon explains:

The Treasury Department changes, these sources said, remove longstanding restrictions that prevent U.S. aid from being injected into sanctioned areas. To skirt these restrictions, the United States will funnel taxpayer dollars to United Nations organizations working in these conflict zones.

The aid policy also protects U.N. organizations from repercussions should U.S. aid dollars end up in the hands of terrorists or other sanctioned entities, like the Taliban or Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria, according to one congressional official tracking the matter.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken of course made the statement that the United States will work to prevent aid dollars from reaching terrorists. He stated the new regulations “safeguards to prevent abuse or diversion, make our sanctions clearer, stronger, and more effective and streamlined.”