The Federalist By: Jordan Boyd
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spent millions of American taxpayer dollars propping up pet projects like dog collar manufacturing and pickle making in Ukraine and then spent months stonewalling members of Congress about that spending, according to findings obtained by The Federalist.
Sen. Joni Ernst’s staff uncovered the secret slush funds when, after months of enduring the agency’s excuses to justify its resistance to oversight, they were finally permitted access to “very limited data.” In October 2024, as Ernst has since detailed, the senator’s staff visited USAID headquarters in person for an “in-camera review” of Ukraine assistance data even though, her team discovered, the documents were not classified.
Even though they were heavily restricted during their investigation, Ernst’s team discovered a variety of U.S. taxpayer-funded grants funneled to Ukrainian businesses under the guise of both Competitive Economy Program (CEP) and Investment for Business Resilience funds.
Among the grants Ernst’s staff discovered were hundreds of thousands of dollars devoted to literal pet projects including approximately $300,000 to a “pet tracking app,” approximately $300,000 to a “dog collar manufacturer,” and approximately another $109,000 to a “pet food packaging producer,” according to a findings breakdown Ernst’s office sent to The Federalist…
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