Lindsey Graham Unleashes On Dems When Russell Vought Details PEPFAR Spending Programs

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tore into Democrats over there management of PEPFAR, and asked OMB Director Russell Vought about President Trump's rescissions package.

Transcript

00:00I think it's me. Welcome. Thank you. So I'll just be honest with you. I understand the

00:09rescission process and what we're trying to do and you gave some examples of you know like the

00:1620 million dollars for Sesame Street in Iraq and all that bad stuff. As I understand it that's not

00:22really what we're talking about. The things that you read about PETFAR spending could you go over

00:31that rule some of the crazy stuff? Sure. $333,000 for LGBTQ advocacy in Uganda. $530,000 for Lesbian

00:41Justice Foundation. $9.3 million to advise Russian doctors on how to perform abortions and gender

00:47analysis. And that was that was under that used PETFAR money. PETFAR. Okay so to my colleagues over

00:55here upset. You ought to sit in my my shoes. I have been supporting this program as hard as I know how

01:04to support it in good faith. Believing that preventing mother to child AIDS transmission is not only good

01:13human policy. It's good national security. It's the right thing to do. It's good soft power.

01:23And now I have to listen to this. And to those like Samantha Power you're the one that got rid of

01:30USAID. And the people who are running PETFAR to let that amount of money I mean that's millions of

01:38dollars right? Yes sir. To go to that junk. We have common ground on protecting children and mothers

01:49from passing on to their child AIDS. We have common ground on keeping people alive who have been infected

01:56with AIDS. And to my Democratic colleagues there is a consequence to this crap.

02:03$400 million. First thing I thought about. Wow how is PETFAR fraud waste and abuse? Well I had no idea

02:16there was one dollar spent like this. So you open my eyes. Now I just want to tell the committee this.

02:24I believe in PETFAR as much as I've ever believed in it. I think it is a vital program that saved millions

02:30of lives. But to those who've run this program and allowed this to happen you clearly don't

02:36appreciate it as much as I do. You clearly care more about your political agenda than the actual

02:43goal that the American people signed up to with President Bush. Don't you think President Trump

02:48likes the idea of PETFAR helping people stay alive who've been infected with AIDS?

02:55A paramount principle with this program Senator and you probably had conversations with him about it is

03:00he wants to preserve the life-saving treatment. He is so all-in on this. But what you don't know is

03:06he's talked to Bill Gates a couple of times about a vaccine for AIDS. He would like President Trump

03:13to spend some time and effort and money on finding a vaccine which would be a blessing.

03:20So it's not a Trump problem here. I know him pretty well. And to my Democratic colleagues

03:27when you're in charge of these programs or people in the administration are in charge of these

03:33programs and this happens you make it so much harder on the rest of us. And what you found in PETFAR

03:42just astonishes me that money would be spent that way. I've traveled the entire continent of Africa and

03:52other places with bipartisan delegations celebrating the lives that PETFAR has saved. The children that are

03:58alive today because the generosity of American people. And to hear that nine million dollars for

04:04what? For abortion?

04:07To perform abortion and gender analysis in the- Are you sure about that?

04:12Senator. Wow. I don't hear any more crap about us from y'all. None. This happened on your watch.

04:23No more preaching to me.

04:27I'm gonna vote for this package. You know why I'm gonna vote for it? Just as a statement that PETFAR is

04:34important but it's not beyond scrutiny. That the way you run the government has consequences.

04:40Don't lecture me about being mean or cruel.

04:44If you really give the damn people in charge of this program, they wouldn't let this happen.

04:50We wouldn't spend nine million dollars helping doctors in Russia perform abortions.

04:54What else was on the list?

04:564.4 in funding to recruit gender and inclusive development experts.

05:0135 million to address vasectomy messaging-

05:04That's just a bunch of bullshit.

05:06You've taken a program that really has saved people's lives and you let people run it her nuts.

05:15Well there's a cost to that. So I'll continue to support PETFAR but I'm not going to support this stuff.

05:22I'll continue to try to work with President Trump to find a vaccine for AIDS.

05:26I'll continue to show people throughout the developing world we care about them.

05:33But I will not continue to bless this kind of stuff.

05:38Thank you for what you've done.

05:39And thanks.

05:40manufacturers.

05:44Okay.

05:46So

05:47okay.

05:48Okay.

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