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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
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Author: Dope1 ⎊  😊 😞
Number: of 84361 
Subject: Re: The Coup Underway and Call to Americans
Date: 02/03/25 2:11 PM
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Wow. Senator Ernst weighs in:

X (Twitter): Autism Capital 🧩 on X: "🚨 NEW: Senator Joni Ernst said that USAID had threatened her and her staff after she started looking into them. She was told she wasn’
NEW: Senator Joni Ernst said that USAID had threatened her and her staff after she started looking into them. She was told she wasn’t allowed to access their databases and that 30-40% of USAIDs money goes towards “overhead” of rent and salaries and entertainment expenses. She later found out that even that number was understated and it was actually upwards of 50-60%

This is an agency in serious need of reform.

She's been looking at them for a while:
ernst.senate.gov - Ernst mccaul fight for accountability in foreign aid at usaid

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, are demanding answers from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power on the agency’s lackluster stewardship of taxpayer dollars appropriated for humanitarian assistance abroad.

USAID issues Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements (NICRAs) for over 300 organizations and companies, many of which are large multinational organizations headquartered outside the United States. Indirect costs, which can include rent for a partner’s corporate headquarters, lobbying costs, and other miscellaneous expenses, can easily exceed 25% of an organization’s total award. In fiscal year 2022 alone, USAID issued $14.94 billion across 5,788 transactions.

Despite several attempts by Senator Ernst to review NICRA information, USAID persistently blocked access, including by falsely claiming that congressional oversight of NICRAs would violate federal laws. As a result of USAID’s obstruction, Senator Ernst has joined forces with Chairman McCaul to send a formal oversight request to USAID to gain access to the rates.

USAID playing games is nothing new it seems.
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This community has written 84,309 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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