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Posts tagged ‘tax dollars’

US govt sent $1.3 billion to China, Russia for gender equality, cat experiments and Wuhan lab research


Thomas Catenacci

By Thomas Catenacci | Fox News| Published May 31, 2023 2:01pm EDT

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-govt-sent-1-3-billion-china-russia-gender-equality-cat-experiments-wuhan-lab-research

The U.S. government has given Chinese and Russian entities at least $1.3 billion for various research programs over the past five years, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and watchdog group Open the Books.

The analysis revealed that millions of taxpayer dollars have been given to, among others, a Chinese software developer for military tech support, a Russian health insurance provider that has since been sanctioned and Chinese agriculture companies. And it showed the federal government gave $2 million, more than previously reported, to the Chinese state-run Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses.

“Washington’s continued spending is so out of hand, it is losing track of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, but I am creating accountability for every penny,” Ernst said in a statement after releasing the report. 

“It is gravely concerning that no one in Washington can actually account for millions sent to Russia and China for pointless projects,” the Iowa Republican continued. “But I have the receipts. I’m shining a light on this reckless spending, so bureaucrats can no longer cover up their tracks and taxpayers can know exactly what their hard-earned dollars are funding.” 

FBI DIRECTOR SAYS COVID PANDEMIC ‘MOST LIKELY’ ORIGINATED FROM CHINESE LAB

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst speaks at a podium in the halls of Congress
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she released the report Wednesday “so bureaucrats can no longer cover up their tracks.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In addition to releasing the analysis, Ernst introduced the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act that would require all federal funding for organizations in China and Russia to be tracked and disclosed. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., who chairs the China Select Committee, introduced companion legislation in the House.

Overall, using data obtained from the Congressional Research Service, Ernst and Open the Books tracked $490 million in U.S. grants and contracts paid to Chinese entities and another $870 million paid to Russian entities. The Government Accountability Office previously estimated the U.S. funneled just $48 million to Chinese entities over the five-year period ending in 2021.

BIPARTISAN GROUP OF LAWMAKERS DEMANDS BIDEN SEIZE IRANIAN OIL AND GAS SHIPMENTS, ENFORCE TRUMP-ERA PROGRAM

According to Ernst’s analysis, one program, a $58.7 million State Department grant, included giving a Chinese organization, Beijing-based Crossroads Cultural Communication, $96,875 for “gender equality” through the exhibition of New Yorker magazine cartoons.” To increase awareness on gender equality and women empowerment through an exhibition of works by women cartoonists of the New Yorker Magazine in China,” the 2021 grant description states.

Biden and Xi shake hands in front of the Chinese and US flags
President Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia on Nov. 14, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Another, a $51.6 million grant from the Department of Defense, resulted in $6 million in funding for Chinese tech firm Beijing Juehua Trading Co. to provide “deployment and distribution command” software for the U.S. military. And Chinese food producers were awarded $1.6 million under the Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, which was designed to assist domestic producers.

The $2 million in research funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology — the Chinese lab some experts have blamed for leaking coronavirus, sparking the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 — included $1.1 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development and $600,000 from the National Institutes of Health. The funding was indirectly transferred through EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. non-governmental organization.

In addition, a $4.2 million Health and Human Services program granted $770,466 to the Pavlov Institute, a state-run lab located in St. Petersburg, Russia, to experiment on cats running on treadmills. The Biden administration ultimately cut off funding for the program after criticism from groups like White Coat Waste and Republican lawmakers.

Ernst’s analysis also showed that the federal government wired $4.7 million to Russian company PAO Rosgosstrakh for health insurance. That same company was sanctioned by the Treasury Department amid the Ukraine invasion in 2022.

Also, $1.45 million was granted to entities in Russia for COVID-19 pandemic virus tracking.

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

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Judge Says Voters Have No Say in How Their Tax Dollars Are Spent


waving flag disclaimerAuthored By Lynn Jolly February 24, 2017

URL of the original posting site: http://constitution.com/judge-says-voters-no-say-tax-dollars-spent/

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The ruling of one liberal federal judge proves that America is no longer a republic and doubtful if it is even a democracy. What’s the difference?

A republic is what our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much to establish. It’s a government where the people elect leaders to do the will of the majority of the people.

A democracy is best described as a government where the people elect leaders to rule over them, regardless of the willmob-rule-democracy of the people. So many people erroneously think America was a democracy but it was NEVER intended to be that way. Also notice that many communist or socialist countries use the term ‘democratic’ in their name – i.e. Democratic Republic of the Congo. Republic in this name just refers to a bordered nation and Democratic refers to the socialist government running it. When East Germany still existed, it was formally known as the German Democratic Republic and like the Congo, Republic only referred to the geographic borders and Democratic referred to the socialist-communist government.

Our Founding Fathers intended for the people to hold most of the power and influence and of the three branches of the federal government, the judiciary was to be the least powerful. However, lately, the judiciary has become the most powerful and influential branch of the federal government. They override the will of the people, the will of Congress and the orders of the President.

Such is the case of U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks, in Austin, Texas.

The majority of Texas voters elected Republicans to the state House and Senate with the mandate to defund Planned Parenthood. Currently, the Texas Senate has 20 republicans to only 11 Democrats and the House is 95 Republicans to only 55 Democrats. Greg Abbott, a staunchly conservative Christian Republican holds the governor’s office after faithfully serving as the state’s Attorney General for 13 years. Since 1987, Texas has only had 1 Democratic governor in Ann Richards who only lasted 4 years. She was followed in 1995 by George W. Bush who was then followed by Rick Perry, who was then followed by Greg Abbott.

Following the will of the people, the Texas legislature voted in 2015 to defund Planned Parenthood, since the voters said they didn’t want their tax dollars going to the abortion giant, regardless of what other services they claim to provide. After the bill to defund Planned Parenthood was signed into law by Gov. Abbott, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit, claiming the new law was unconstitutional.

In his agenda driven ruling, Judge Sparks, once thought to be a conservative who was appointed by President George W. Bush, overturned the law in favor of Planned Parenthood. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council commented about the ruling handed down by Judge Sparks:

“It may be your money, but that doesn’t mean you can decide how it’s spent!” That was the message from U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks to Texans who overwhelmingly voted to strip Planned Parenthood of its hefty Medicaid haul. In a 42-page opinion that read like it was written by Cecile Richards herself, Sparks took unusual offense to the law, insisting that the effort was all based on ‘a secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, [and] congressional investigations’ that sounded more like a ‘best-selling novel’ than a legitimate case’.”more-leftist-propaganda

“‘Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas’s efforts to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources.’ Insisting that yanking funding for the scandal-plagued group would somehow cause ‘irreparable harm,’ Sparks seemed more concerned with his personal agenda than the facts. If the judge had bothered looking beyond his own bias, he would have realized that low-cost, publicly-funded health centers (where these dollars would be redirected) outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to one nationwide, care for 23 million Americans, and even provide more health services than the group he’s so desperate to defend. In fact, those community health centers serve 21.1 million individuals per year, nearly eight times more individuals than are served by Planned Parenthood centers.”

When one judge becomes President, Congress, Governor, state legislature and ruler of the people, it’s a clear sign that America is no longer the republic created and established by the Founding Fathers. It also sends out a signal that the majority of the American people no long have a say in their government or how the government spends their hard-earned tax dollars.

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National Guard paid millions to NFL teams for in-game soldier salutes


By Matt Bonesteel May 8

(AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

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During timeouts at home games, the New York Jets air a Hometown Heroes segment in which a U.S. soldier or two are shown on the Jumbotron and everyone thanks them for their service. The soldiers and three friends get seats in the Coaches Club. It’s a nice salute.

It’s also funded by U.S. taxpayers.

In news that was first reported Tuesday by Herb Jackson of the Bergen Record and expanded upon by Christopher Baxter and Jonathan D. Salant of New Jersey Advance Media, the Department of Defense paid 14 NFL teams $5.4 million from 2011 to 2014 for salutes like the Hometown Heroes segment and other advertising at professional football games. All but $100,000 of that money came from the National Guard.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called the spending wasteful and disingenuous, Baxter and Salant report:

“Those of us go to sporting events and see them honoring the heroes,” Flake said in an interview. “You get a good feeling in your heart. Then to find out they’re doing it because they’re compensated for it, it leaves you underwhelmed. It seems a little unseemly.” …

“They realize the public believes they’re doing it as a public service or a sense of patriotism,” Flake said. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”NFL Greed

Flake added that he has no problem with the National Guard spending money on recruitment advertising at football games. “The problem, he said, was spending taxpayer money on a program that, on its face, appeared to be a generous gesture by a football team,” Baxter and Salant write.

The story goes on to detail what the National Guard gets in return for its spending:

Aside from the Hometown Heroes segment, the agreements also included advertising and marketing services, including a kickoff video message from the Guard, digital advertising on stadium screens, online advertising and meeting space for a meeting or events.

Also, soldiers attended the annual kickoff lunch in New York City to meet and take pictures with the players for promotional use, and the Jets allowed soldiers to participate in a charity event in which coaches and players build or rebuild a playground or park.

The Jets also provided game access passes.

A National Guard spokesman said the agreement with the Jets helps promote and increase “the public’s understanding and appreciation of military service in the New Jersey Army National Guard increases the propensity for service in our ranks and garners public support for our Hometown Team.” A Jets spokesman says the team works with the National Guard just as it works with any other sponsor to tailor in-game advertising.

According to the report, the Colts and Ravens are among the other teams that have similar agreements with the National Guard. According to Jackson, the Ravens received $885,000 from the Defense Department advertising. Jackson also reported that the advertising contract with the Jets had yet to be renewed for the upcoming season, though a spokesman did not know if that was because the funding had been cut by Congress. Picture3

After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He’s now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post’s other Web-based products.
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