Dem Rep. Lieu on USAID Funding Sex Changes, Dealing with Trolls: I’ll Have a Discussion, But Cuts Aren’t to Help U.S.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) responded to a question on whether he supports DOGE cuts like “gender-affirming health care in Guatemala, teaching people in Kazakhstan to fight back against Internet trolls, voluntary male circumcisions in Mozambique, creating work opportunities for young LGBTQI+ people in Serbia” by stating that he’s “happy to have a discussion on the funding of USAID and what some of these programs are going to” but the Trump administration is doing things illegally “And it’s also simply wrong that they’re making these cuts to somehow help Americans. They’re making these cuts to give billions of dollars of tax breaks to billionaires.” And he supports “getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. And, by the way, both Democratic and Republican administrations have been doing this.”

Host Pamela Brown asked, “[W]e have confirmed some of the cuts the DOGE team has been making, and they do include things — besides what we were just discussing — like gender-affirming health care in Guatemala, teaching people in Kazakhstan to fight back against Internet trolls, voluntary male circumcisions in Mozambique, creating work opportunities for young LGBTQI+ people in Serbia. Are these things that you think taxpayer money from the U.S., U.S. taxpayer money should be spent on? And how do you think taxpayers knew their money was going to these causes?”

Lieu responded, “So, happy to have a discussion on the funding of USAID and what some of these programs are going to. But what the administration cannot do is randomly freeze the funding to all these programs that Congress has already appropriated. That’s why we have an entire appropriations process. And it’s also simply wrong that they’re making these cuts to somehow help Americans. They’re making these cuts to give billions of dollars of tax breaks to billionaires. And how do we know that? Because Republicans just passed a budget out of committee last week that does exactly that. It gives trillions of dollars, actually, in tax breaks to the super-wealthy.”

Brown followed up, “But Republicans, and many Americans, and I hear from them a lot, say, look, I know Democrats say that this is going to help with tax cuts to billionaires, but this — Democrats have been saying, for years, going back to President Clinton, we’re going to make the government more efficient, we’re going to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. And, in their view, they’re looking at all of this, and they’re applauding it. They’re saying, finally, someone is doing something about this, and they’re moving fast. And sometimes you have to do that and mistakes will be made. But, finally, they’re getting rid of some of the waste. And, wow, I can’t believe this is what my taxpayer dollars are going to, including some of those programs I mentioned. What do you say to all those Americans?”

Lieu responded, “I absolutely support getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. And, by the way, both Democratic and Republican administrations have been doing this. You may remember, when Al Gore ran, he ran on waste, fraud, and abuse and talked about rooting out all of this waste, fraud, and abuse when he was vice president of the United States. And this has been ongoing among administrations. And I absolutely support rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, just do it [legally.]”

Brown then cut in to say, “But they would argue it hasn’t had the impact.”

Lieu responded, “Oh, the impact is, it’s going to give big tax breaks to billionaires. That’s exactly what the Republican budget does. And people can read it. It came out last week.”

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