USAID looking into criminal referrals regarding USAID fraud

Acting USAID Director Peter Marocco told Congress yesterday (Wednesday) that he was looking into criminal referrals against those who misused taxpayer funds meant for foreign development, according to FOX News.

Marocco said that while an internal review is in its early stages, members of his team believe that they've uncovered patterns of illegality at USAID.

USAID was one of the first agencies targeted by Elon Musk's DOGE or Department of Government Efficiency, with multiple cases of foreign aid worth thousands and even millions of dollars going to all sorts of causes which appeared irrelevant to general development and aid to foreign countries and instead seemed geared towards niche progressive causes such as theater and gender politics.

The disbursement of at least some of the USAID funds, including for projects already completed, is the matter of a number of court cases pending throughout the United States.

The Supreme Court recently denied the Trump administration an emergency stay of a temporary restraining order that some two billion dollars in aid money be immediately disbursed, though it also ordered that the judge issuing the order clarify it in terms of specific items and explain his legal basis.

Likud MK Dan Ilouz recently addressed the issue of waste and inefficiency in the Israeli government and said that this is not fate, and that leaders in the world "unafraid to clash with the system" such as Elon Musk's DOGE efficiency measures and the government downsizing of Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Ilouz said that the Regulation Authority established by the previous government "is simply insufficient," and he said that when he wanted to introduce an amendment which would strengthen it, "all the bureaucrats from all the ministries" arose and watered it down, to the point that he was now not convinced it's worth passing.

He said that it's time to "deal with the problem at the root" as bureaucracy harms both the individual citizen and the "growth engines of the country."

Ilouz therefore proposed the establishment of a Governmental Efficiency Committee, an independent body which would operate much like DOGE, ending waste, cutting regulation, and ensure that the public service serves the public, not itself. He said that this is no technical step, but rather a "necessary reform" to save the economy.

He said the choice is clear: small government and a growing economy, or the continued foot-dragging and struggle with the bureaucracy.