Senator John Kennedys Claims on USAID Spending with Elon Musk Mostly False
“Senator John Kennedy on Elon Musk and DOGE exposing USAID, “I'll tell you what Mr. Musk discovered. I find it fascinating. He discovered: - The American taxpayers are giving money to Afghanistan - He found that we are giving money to Yemen - He found that we are giving money to Syria - He found that the USAID has 10,000 people employees, and every year they give away $40 billion - He found that the USAID gave money to support electric vehicles in Vietnam. Our money, taxpayer money - He found that the USAID gave money to a transgender clinic in India. “I didn't know that. I bet you the American people didn't know that” - He found that USAID gave $1.5 million to a Serbian LGBTQ group, they got $1.5 million to QUOTE, “advanced diversity, equity, inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities” - They found that USAID spent $164 million to support radical organizations around the world - They gave $122 million of that to groups aligned with foreign terrorist organizations - According to this report in Mr. Musk, the USAID has given millions of dollars to quote organizations in Gaza controlled by Hamas - He found that we gave $2 million, USAID did, for sex changes in Guatemala - He found that we gave $20 million to produce a new Sesame Street show in Iraq - He found that we gave $4.5 million of taxpayer money to combat misinformation in Kazakhstan - He found that we gave $10 million, USAID did, of meals to an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group called the Nusra Front - Mr. Musk found that we gave $7.9 million of taxpayer money to a project that would teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid binary gendered language. (The USAID took 8 million bucks and gave it to a bunch of journalists in Sri Lanka to teach them how to avoid binary gendered language) - USAID gave $1.5 million to promote LGBT advocacy in Jamaica - They gave $1.5 million to rebuild the Cuban media ecosystem - They gave $1.5 million for quote, art for inclusion of people with disabilities in Belarus - Another $3.9 million for LGBT causes in Macedonia - $8.3 million for equity and inclusion education in Nepal”
Summary
USAID employs over 10,000 staff, but its annual budget is around $3‑4 billion, not $40 billion. No credible evidence confirms the numerous specific allocations listed (e.g., funds to Afghanistan, Yemen, transgender clinics, LGBTQ groups, or terrorist‑linked entities). The detailed spending claims are unsubstantiated and therefore inaccurate.
Sources 76 searched
- Kennedy ahead of vote on rescissions: “You either believe in reducing spending, or you don't” - Press releases - U.S. Senator John Kennedy
Musk, of course, has left. But the quest to reduce government spending, wasteful government spending, which I call spending porn, continues. “Every Republican in the U.S. Senate has voiced approval of what the president has done. Every Republican—every one of my colleagues, myself included—has said to the president, ‘Atta boy, Mr. President. Go get them. Keep issuing those executive orders. Reduce the spending. We're spending too much money.
- https://crsreports.congress.gov Updated September 5, 2025
most recent report CRS was able to access), USAID’s · workforce totaled more than 10,000 at the end of FY2023,
- USAID Funding Letter 04-24-26
International Development (USAID). The plan includes spending up to $3.2 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 development and global
- Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show | Reuters
In July, Vought sought funds from the CFPB to help meet the $4.7 million cost of his security detail for the remainder of 2025, according to an email seen by Reuters and a person with knowledge of the matter. The email was first reported by GovExec. Trump ordered the closure of USAID on taking office in January, claiming without providing proof that it was rife with corruption. Some 10,000 USAID personnel and thousands of contractors were fired and thousands of programs shuttered, throwing into turmoil U.S.-funded global humanitarian aid operations on which millions of the world’s poorest people depended.
- حول الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية (USAID) | العمل مع الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية (USAID) | Work With USAID
يمكن للمؤسسات التقدم بطلب للحصول على تمويل من الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية بدون التسجيل في هذا الموقع. العمل مع الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية (USAID)الصفحة الرئيسيةتقييم ما قبل المشاركةتنزيل أسئلة التقييم
- العمل مع الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية (USAID) | Work With USAID
يمكن للمؤسسات التقدم بطلب للحصول على تمويل من الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية بدون التسجيل في هذا الموقع. العمل مع الوكالة الأمريكية للتنمية الدولية (USAID)الصفحة الرئيسيةتقييم ما قبل المشاركةتنزيل أسئلة التقييم
- GRANT to OUT LGBT WELL-BEING
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- ‘Ignorance and cruelty’: former USAID official details devastation inflicted by Doge cuts | USAID | The Guardian
That account, published last week as Into the Wood Chipper – a phrase taken from a comment by Elon Musk on Doge cuts at the agency – details the early days of Doge’s foray into the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the ...
- What will define Elon Musk’s legacy? Doge cuts to USAID Ebola programs | Elon Musk | The Guardian
Musk’s demolition of USAID, and the resulting suffering and death, “is going to be a defining part of his legacy, and I do wonder if that’s why he’s scrambling so hard to rewrite that history now”, Konyndyk said. Musk took a model he used in his companies to “cut until people scream, and then when people scream, you’ve cut too far, and then you restore”, Konyndyk said. “That’s not how public funding works.
- Opinion | U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Killed People. That’s the Truth. - The New York Times
I got on his nerves for pushing back at his claims that his demolition of the United States Agency for International Development last year did not cost lives. The fracas began after Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said that Musk had “possibly sentenced to death” a large number of children, and Musk retorted that it was “time to sue this liar.”
- Rep Ro Khanna brushes off Elon Musk lawsuit threat over USAID cuts | Fox News
Rep. Ro Khanna says he won't be intimidated by Elon Musk's threat to sue him over claims that USAID cuts possibly led to millions of children's deaths.
- Elon Musk threatens to sue Ro Khanna over claims USAID cuts sentenced children to death
SILICON VALLEY INVESTOR SAYS ELON MUSK SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR 'UNDERMINING GOVT. THAT'S PAYING HIM' "Absolutely. This is a total lie. All DOGE did was require contact with the aid recipients to confirm that funds were being used legitimately.
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