GOP Presidential Hopeful Nikki Haley: No More US Taxpayer Dollars to ‘Our Enemies’
(CNSNews.com) – Republican 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on Sunday that as president, she would ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are no longer sent to foreign governments whose policies make them America’s “enemies.’
“The number one thing I would do is stop giving foreign aid to our enemies,” the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and South Carolina governor told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” noting that the U.S. provides around $46 billion in foreign aid each year. (Over the five years from FY 2018 – FY 2022, the average U.S. foreign aid has been $46.8 billion.)
As examples, Haley cited aid going to Iraq, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, China, Belarus, and Cuba.
“You’re basically talking about a billion dollars going to Iraq, who’s basically dealing with the Iranians who are saying ‘Death to America,’” she said. “You’re giving $2 billion to Pakistan, who are harboring terrorists, trying to kill our soldiers.”
“You’re giving half a billion dollars to Zimbabwe, the most anti-American African country there is,” Haley continued.
“We’re giving China money for the environment. Are you kidding? We shouldn’t be giving them a single penny. Belarus, who’s holding hands with Russia in this war against Ukraine. And then you’ve got communist Cuba. We’re giving them money and we have designated them a state-sponsor of terrorism.”
“When I’m president we will no longer give foreign aid to our enemies,” Haley said. “We will stop that. We’ll start being smart, and we’ll start being strong again.”
Haley’s comments came after a Friday New York Post op-ed in which she pledged as president to “cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us.”
“A strong America doesn’t pay off the bad guys,” Haley wrote. “A proud America doesn’t waste our people’s hard-earned money. And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends.”
Haley served as ambassador to the U.N. under President Trump from January 2017 until December 2018, and during her tenure frequently warned other member-states that their voting choices on issues of priority for the U.S. were being carefully monitored.
In a speech in late 2020 she characterized the United Nations as a place “where murderers, dictators and thieves go to bash America – and then turn around with their hands out wanting money.”
Haley launched her campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination earlier this month. She is currently in fourth place in RealClearPolitics polling average for the GOP presidential primary, behind Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Neither DeSantis nor Pence have yet declared they are running.
Voting patterns
Although Haley on Sunday mostly cited countries whose regimes are widely viewed to be hostile to those of the U.S., there are other countries that receive significantly more U.S. aid, and which also do often not side with the U.S. in multilateral forums.
Leaving aside war-torn Ukraine, the 13 countries that received the most U.S. aid in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 were: Afghanistan ($4.57 billion across both fiscal years), Ethiopia ($2.43 bn), Yemen ($2.11 bn), South Sudan ($1.79 bn), Nigeria ($1.71 bn), Jordan ($1.66 bn), Democratic Republic of Congo ($1.62 bn), Sudan ($1.20 bn), Colombia ($1.15 bn), Kenya ($1.15 bn), Somalia ($1.13 bn), Uganda ($1.12 bn), and South Africa ($1.02 bn).
Every year, the State Department as a requirement in law provides an annual report to Congress on voting practices at the United Nations. It records how many times every country at the U.N. voted the same way as the United States – “yes,” “no,” or abstain – in contested votes in the U.N. General Assembly.
In the most recent report, released last March and covering in 2021, of all 86 resolutions brought to a vote, the 192 other U.N. member-states’ votes coincided with those of the U.S. an average of 41 percent of the time.
Of the 14 biggest recipients of U.S. aid, however, only one, the Democratic Republic of Congo, voted with the U.S. more often than the overall average – 58 percent voting coincidence with the U.S.
The voting coincidence with the U.S. of the others were:
29 percent – Uganda
30 percent – Sudan, Jordan
31 percent – Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria,
32 percent – Afghanistan, Kenya, South Africa
37 percent – Somalia, Colombia
40 percent – South Sudan
For comparison, the countries with the highest voting coincidence with the United States were Israel (90 percent), Canada (77 percent), Micronesia (77 percent), Australia (74 percent) and the United Kingdom (74 percent).
The countries with the lowest voting coincidence with the U.S. were Syria (16 percent), Iran (21 percent), Venezuela (22 percent), Nicaragua (22 percent), and Cuba (23 percent).
Incidentally, Ukraine’s votes coincided with the U.S. position 66 percent of the time in 2021.
Of the countries Haley mentioned in her Sunday interview, the U.S. government in FY 2022 disbursed $305.78 million to Iraq, $266.44 million to Zimbabwe, 188.53 million to Pakistan, $17.37 million to Belarus, $9.65 million to China, and $7.05 million to Cuba.
Those countries’ U.N. voting coincidence with the U.S. in 2021 were: Cuba (23 percent), Zimbabwe (26 percent), China (27 percent), Belarus (27 percent), Iraq (30 percent), and Pakistan (33 percent).
See also:
Top US Aid Recipients Could be Affected in Trump’s Proposed Funding Audit (Jan. 26, 2017)
From CNSNews - READ ORIGINAL
Some media, including videos, may only be available to view at the original.
