More than $1.3 billion has been funneled overseas to China and Russia through “pointless projects” over the past five years, according to a compilation of taxpayer-funded grants discovered by Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
Non-profit transparency group Open the Books teamed up with Ernst to compile a new analysis of data from USAspending.gov showing US-funded grants and contracts to the tune of $490 million were paid between 2017-2022 to Chinese organizations and another $870 million was sent to entities in Russia.
According to Ernst’s analysis, the US has handed out millions in strange “pet projects” to its biggest adversaries.
The study found that the State Department donated nearly $58.7 million to China and used nearly $100,000 of that amount to promote awareness of “gender equality” through a series of cartoons in New Yorker magazines.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services donated more than $770.00 to a state-run laboratory in Russia to “put cats on treadmills.”
“As I followed the trail, it was very concerning that the final destination of more than $1.3 billion of US tax dollars was pointless projects in China and Russia,” Ernst told DailyMail.com.
Other previously unexposed grants include $51.6 million from the Department of Defense to China, which specifically allocated $6 million for technical support of the military’s deployment and distribution command software.
Ernst, the first female veteran to serve in the Senate, said it should be of particular concern to Americans as the Department of Defense inspector general has warned the Pentagon about using Chinese IT companies for government projects.
Other bags of money went to Russia for alcohol and addiction research and to a health insurance company the Republican says was sanctioned by the US in 2022 after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ernst also highlighted the already known millions given to the state-run Wuhan Institute of Virology through NIH grants to EcoHealth Alliance, which she says used US taxpayers to conduct “dangerous experiments” on bat coronaviruses.
“As I followed the trail, it was deeply concerning that the final destination of more than $1.3 billion of US tax dollars was pointless projects in China and Russia,” Ernst told DailyMail.com in a statement.
“I tracked down the money so Americans know exactly where their hard-earned dollars are going, and we can put an end to this outrageous spending.”
As a result of the findings, lawmakers are exploring ways to be more accountable in the future.
Ernst, together with Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who is the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s House Select Committee, introduced a new bill on Wednesday to ensure more transparency about payments to China and Russia in the future.
Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., is the Chairman of the House Select Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
“This is insane, but to make matters worse, this may just be the tip of the iceberg,” Gallagher said
The Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act would require government agencies to disclose all subsidies they give to America’s biggest adversaries.
“Thanks to Senator Ernst’s work, we know that the federal government has wasted more than a billion US tax dollars on our opponents. This is insane, but to make matters worse, this may just be the tip of the iceberg,” Gallagher said.
“The TRACKS Act will bring much-needed transparency to how we spend federal dollars and will help us take steps to hold government accountable and prevent taxpayers from supporting our opponents.”
A GOP aide noted that the $1.3 billion figure is not all of the money that went to China and Russia from 2017-2022.
The new legislation would ensure that other amounts are now captured and included in public reporting forums, including money sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the aide added.