Public Funds, Private Agendas: NGOs Gone Wild

Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations

2025-06-04

Loading video...

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This meeting of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency focused on allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their connections to political figures and parties. The discussion was marked by sharp disagreements regarding the role and funding of NGOs, particularly those involved in climate and immigration initiatives [ 00:16:53 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
.

Themes

Allegations of Misappropriation and Political Influence in NGOs

Members expressed concerns that vast amounts of federal tax dollars are funneled through NGOs, particularly those aligned with the "left," to push specific policies and benefit political allies [ 00:16:56-00:16:58 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. It was claimed that this system creates a cycle where NGOs receive grants, and their leaders then turn around and donate to political campaigns [ 00:18:20-00:18:24 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Specific examples included green energy NGOs like Power Forward and Rewiring America, which allegedly received billions in federal funding despite being newly formed or having minimal prior revenue [ 00:20:52-00:20:55 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 . Questions were raised about the process of awarding multi-billion dollar grants to organizations with little to no track record, suggesting a lack of transparency and potential cronyism . The involvement of former government officials in NGOs receiving these funds was highlighted as a conflict of interest [ 00:50:17 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Furthermore, federally funded immigration NGOs were accused of egregiously abusing tax dollars to fund illegal immigration and supporting criminal networks, using taxpayer money to provide housing, transportation, and legal services to migrants [ 00:21:39-00:21:47 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Some witnesses described this as undermining U.S. immigration laws and enriching cartels .

Defense of Nonprofits and Critiques of the Subcommittee's Actions

Conversely, some members and a witness emphasized the crucial role of charitable nonprofits in communities, providing essential services like food, shelter, healthcare, and job training [ 00:45:35-00:45:43 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 . They asserted that nonprofits are nonpartisan, accountable, and often fill gaps left by government or other entities . Concerns were raised about the administration's alleged "attacks" on nonprofits, including threats to revoke tax-exempt status and federal funding cuts, which were described as illegal and immoral attempts to silence dissent . These actions were characterized as weaponization of the federal government, rather than genuine efforts at government efficiency . Critics also questioned the credibility and effectiveness of the DOGE subcommittee itself, noting its alleged failure to achieve actual efficiency and its focus on partisan attacks [ 00:24:21-00:24:31 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 .

Partisan Disagreement and Personal Attacks

The hearing was marked by deep partisan divisions and frequent personal attacks . Members from both sides accused the other of hypocrisy, with Republicans linking Democratic-aligned NGOs to "dark money" and "grift," while Democrats pointed to Republican witnesses' affiliations with conservative "dark money" networks like Project 2025 and figures like the Koch brothers and Leonard Leo . Several exchanges devolved into direct questioning of witnesses' personal beliefs and affiliations, including accusations of racism and "covert white supremacy," which witnesses largely refused to answer as irrelevant to the hearing's stated purpose . These exchanges underscored the highly politicized nature of the discussions .

Tone of the Meeting

The tone of the meeting was overwhelmingly contentious and highly partisan, characterized by frequent accusations, interruptions, and sharp verbal exchanges [ 00:16:53-00:17:49 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Speakers from both sides often employed accusatory and emotionally charged language, directly challenging the integrity and motives of opposing members and witnesses [ 00:21:39-00:22:10 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 . The exchanges sometimes veered into personal attacks and attempts to discredit individuals or their organizations, rather than focusing solely on policy or efficiency . The overall atmosphere reflected a deep ideological divide and a struggle for political narrative control .

Participants

Transcript

This hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency will come to order.  Welcome, everyone.  Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time.  I recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement.
Good morning and welcome to another Doge Subcommittee hearing where we will highlight more abuses of your tax dollars.   The left has funneled hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars through non-governmental organizations, NGOs, to push destructive policies and line the pockets of their friends and allies.  This NGO scheme demonstrates massive waste and abuse of federal resources.   Today's hearing will bring transparency for the American people.  We will expose the corrupt ties that bind left-wing NGOs, Democrat elected officials, Democrat political appointees, and the deep state bureaucrats who write grants and contracts.   Corrupt backdoor deal-making has exploited the taxpayer purse to achieve policy ends opposed by the very Americans forced to fund them.  Whether by pushing green energy scams or facilitating the resettlement of millions of illegal aliens,   into American towns and cities, the alliance between big government and allied NGOs has been highly effective and has been flying under the public's radar for far too long.  But today, we are going to draw back the curtain.  The scheme works in a cycle.   as shown here.  Democrat administration officials work with leftist NGOs to implement programs in a manner that ensures those NGOs receive massive grants and contracts.  The leaders of those recipient groups then turn around and donate to Democrat political campaigns.   This intricate web of connections is how elected and appointed Democrat officials and allied NGOs work together.  Federal agencies fund the NGOs and the NGOs shape the agency's behavior.  It can be hard to tell where the government ends and the NGO begins.
The nonprofits essentially serve as an arm of the government.  To put it another way, if the permanent bureaucracy is the de facto fourth branch of the government, then these leftist NGOs are the fifth.  Our witnesses today will describe how the left has funneled hundreds of billions of US tax dollars through NGOs, discuss the destructive policies this has enabled, and detail the damage done to our country.   So-called green energy NGOs are among the worst offenders.  They have used federal dollars to destabilize the US power grid and energy dominance, while raising energy costs on Americans.  The Biden EPA steered billions in US tax dollars to leftist climate NGOs via a $20 billion slush fund known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, GGRF.   like-minded nonprofits were enlisted to implement President Biden's Green New Deal scam.  While we are grateful to the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for shutting it down and quickly terminating these grants, further accountability is necessary.  The full Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating Biden's GGRF.   We know that all the awardees are connected to both the Biden administration and Democratic donors and that they sit on each other's boards in an incestuous circle.  Today, we will shine light on this dynamic.  Take, for example, who the Democrats choose to bring in as their witnesses.  Someone so entrenched into the system that she was a director at the U.S.  Department of Housing and Urban Development.   a leader of a housing organization that lobbied for more federal spending, and now a nationally renowned nonprofit leader who donates to Democrat campaigns.
Other examples include many green NGOs that employ former Biden administration officials.  These people wrote the rules for this climate grift in which they now partake.   As government officials, they were paid by taxpayers to conduct the grift.  Now taxpayers are funding the grant awards that pay their salaries.  This cash grab was so large that some nonprofits were birthed solely to get in on the game.   One newly created nonprofit, Power Forward, received an astonishing $2 billion from Biden's EPA, despite having just been formed.  Power Forward is now part of a network tied to rewiring America, which employs Stacey Abrams, the twice-failed Democrat candidate for governor in Georgia, and voting rights activist.   After all, however, she would have been a good hire given her history of running her own nonprofit, which spent $3.2 million on campaign resources instructing voters to support her campaign, all of which are prohibited actions for nonprofits.  Consequently, her nonprofit was levied the largest penalty ever imposed in Georgia's history for violating state campaign finance laws.   This is the circle of life.   Climate and energy is just one area where the entrenched bureaucrats and political appointees have partnered with NGOs to do the left's bidding.  Illegal immigration is another.  Federally funded NGOs have egregiously abused tax dollars to fund the invasion at our southern border by providing housing, transportation, legal services, and more to shepherd illegal aliens across our border and settle them in our country.   These NGOs support the cartels in their mission to invade our country.
Under the guise of assisting migrants, these groups have placed criminal networks, dangerous gangs, and human traffickers into American towns and cities.

Sign up for free to see the full transcript

Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.

Sign up