Sen. Joni Ernst applauds Secretary of State Rubio’s push to overhaul USAID and review its spending

Sen. Joni Ernst is looking to keep the focus on the lack of transparency and accountability at the U.S. Agency for International Development, following up on the Trump administration’s crackdown on the agency’s operations.

The Iowa Republican sent a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio celebrating his “efforts to overhaul this rogue agency” and to “conduct a full and independent analysis of the receipts of USAID assistance.”

“USAID is culpable for decades of unchecked, outlandish expenditures and that behavior must end now,” she said.

Ms. Ernst also outlined how USAID has acted in “deceptive and egregious” ways to stop her from gathering information on its spending of taxpayers’ money.

“Time and time again, the agency has been unwilling to provide accurate documents in response to my investigations into its frivolous expenditures including many instances of taxpayer-funded assistance to businesses in Ukraine,” Ms. Ernst said. “Despite numerous attempts by me and my staff to work in good faith with USAID staff to conduct oversight, the agency has engaged in a demonstrated pattern of obstructionism.”

President Trump appointed Mr. Rubio as acting director of USAID this week. Mr. Rubio said his goal is to ensure the agency becomes more transparent and spends money “in alignment with the policy directives that they get from the Secretary of State, the National Security Council, and the president.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Ernst has prided herself as a taxpayer advocate and authored the “Make ’Em Squeal” awards targeting wasteful government spending. She is now heading up the Senate DOGE caucus, working with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

In a live X session with Mr. Musk this week, Ms. Ernst said a large chunk of the USAID money is spent on overhead costs and things not associated with its humanitarian mission.

“You know we love to feel good about helping starving children in name-your-country,” she said. “But it is not going there. It is going to pay rent in Paris. It is going to support someone’s fancy dinner.”

In her letter to Mr. Rubio, Ms. Ernst said USAID has given money to a D.C. consulting group that “has a track record of allegedly overbilling U.S. taxpayer and possibly offering kickbacks to terrorist groups.”

She also said that USAID had played shady games to block congressional oversight and withhold information from Congress.

This included hiding behind federal disclosure laws that did not apply to her requests for information and withholding information that “appears” to show thousands of Ukrainian businesses received $2 million each in taxpayer-funded assistance.

She said USAID has signed off on agreements that have allowed “grant recipients to use more than 25 percent of the total award on indirect costs, which can include rent for a partner’s corporate headquarters, advocacy costs, and other miscellaneous expenses.”

“In the wake of this series of significant misjudgments and oversight obstruction by the USAID, it is of the utmost importance to conduct a full and independent analysis of the recipients of USAID assistance,” she said. “Americans deserve answers for how their tax dollars are being spent abroad.”