by WorldTribune Staff, March 2, 2025 Real World News
A full accounting of the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars the Biden-Harris regime gifted Ukraine may never occur.
But an investigation by the staff of Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst proves that American tax dollars were paying for much more than the war effort.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded pet projects in Ukraine that included dog collar manufacturing and pickle making and the agency then spent months stonewalling members of Congress about that spending, The Federalist reported on Feb. 26.
In October 2024, the senator’s staff visited USAID headquarters in person for an “in-camera review” of Ukraine assistance data even though, her team discovered, the documents were not classified.
Ernst’s team discovered a U.S. taxpayer-funded grants were funneled to Ukrainian businesses under the guise of both Competitive Economy Program (CEP) and Investment for Business Resilience funds.
Among Ernst staff’s findings:
• A “custom carpet manufacturer” received approximately $2,000,000
• $733,000 combined to a women’s clothing company, a fashion photographer, a “purveyor of contemporary knitwear,” a “luxury bridal brand,” a “marketplace for designer artisanal pieces,” and even a “trade mission for a fashion design house.”
• $678,000 to a “specialty biscuit and confectionery company”
• $319,000 to a meatpacking plant
• $300,000 to a “pet tracking app”
• $300,000 to a “dog collar manufacturer”
• $255,000 to an organic coffee and tea producer
• $148,000 to a “pickle maker”
• $109,000 to a “pet food packaging producer”
• $104,000 to an “artisanal fruit tea company”
• $94,000 to a “trade mission for a condiment manufacturer”
In a Feb. 4 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose department took over USAID at the White House’s direction in early February, Ernst wrote that USAID grants such as CEP funds claim to “enhance Ukraine’s wartime posture by increasing Ukrainian businesses’ sales in new markets.”
“Instead, the American people have funded extravagant trade missions and vacations for Ukrainian business owners to film festivals and fashion weeks across the glamorous capitols of Europe and beyond,” Ernst wrote.
Ernst told The Federalist that USAID “went rogue. As we uncover more waste, fraud, and abuse, it is clear why the agency was so desperate to stonewall my efforts to expose how it was spending tax dollars. Foreign aid must advance America’s interests, not line the pockets of shady overseas businesses and contractors.”
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