Hearing Wrap Up: Taxpayer-Funded NGO Slush Funds Advancing Radical Agendas Must Be Shut Down

WASHINGTON—The Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) today held a hearing on “Public Funds, Private Agendas: NGOs Gone Wild.” At the hearing, members and witnesses exposed the ties that bind left-wing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Democrat elected officials and appointees, and bureaucrats who write grants and contracts. Radical Democrats have funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to NGOs to advance destructive policies, such as open borders and the Green New Deal scam—all while lining the pockets of their friends and allies. Members and witnesses agreed that NGOs’ taxpayer-funded slush funds must be shut down to prevent the waste and abuse of taxpayer resources. 

Key Takeaways:

Radical, left-wing Democrats have bankrolled nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to advance their destructive agenda at the expense of American taxpayers.

• Scott Walter, the President of Capital Research Center, testified how NGOs are largely funded by the federal government to advance the Left’s priorities. “First, many NGOs—over 35,000 according to one study—receive most of their money from government, not citizens. Second, many NGOs serve the Big Government political agenda that fights to centralize power in Washington for the benefit of the Left’s preferred political party.”

• Mark Krikorian, the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, testified how U.S. taxpayer dollars funded United Nations (UN) organizations that helped fuel the Biden Border Crisis. “During the 2021-2025 administration of President Joe Biden, the United States devoted significant taxpayer funds to a network formed in 2019 that consisted of United Nations agencies and non-government organizations. The partnership established aid waystations all along Latin American illegal-migration routes, and it encouraged and facilitated at least 10 million foreign nationals from 180 countries to cross the U.S. southern border during those four years – at U.S. taxpayer expense.” Mr. Krikorian further detailed how these NGOs undermined U.S. immigration laws: “They provided millions of intending illegal border-crossers with ‘cash-based interventions’ in the form of debit cards and even cash in envelopes, as well as legal coaching that involved narrative engineering for fraudulent asylum claims, transportation facilitation, food, camping equipment, trail advice, and lodging assistance.”

• Mr. Daniel Turner, the Founder and Executive Director of Power the Future, testified about the Green New Deal scam perpetuated by the so-called Inflation Reduction act, detailing the lack of oversight, political favoritism, and awarding of billion in grants to newly formed or politically connected NGOs. “The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for the green agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency received tens of billions .. [A] staffer from an environmental group called The Coalition for Green Capital named Jahi Wise joined the Biden EPA to direct $27 billion in green funding. For context, $27 billion is larger than the budgets of the Departments of Treasury, Interior, and Commerce, yet Mr. Jahi went through no confirmation process, and his decision to direct tens of billions to organizations of his choosing had no Congressional oversight. Conveniently, under his tenure at this new EPA office, $5 billion was granted to his former organization, the Coalition for Green Capital. The abundance of green dollars created a new, pernicious mechanism: create a group for the sole purpose of getting government grants. For example, Power Forward Communities, was only a few months old when it applied for, and received, nearly $9 billion to distribute at its own discretion. One lucky recipient was an organization affiliated with two-time Georgia Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. With only $100 in the bank this group received $2 billion.”

Much of the hyperbolic opposition to the Trump Administration’s DOGE efforts comes from NGOs who don’t want their taxpayer-funded slush funds to dry up.

• Scott Walter testified how NGOs are suing the Trump Administration as DOGE seeks to cut their funding.“My Capital Research Center colleagues found 15 government-funded nonprofits suing the Trump administration in just its first month. These groups had enjoyed at least 1.6 billion tax dollars from their political allies in the Biden Administration […] [Solidarity Center] is suing the current administration because DOGE recommended that Solidarity’s federal funding end. It’s received over $86 million from the federal government since 2008; $61 million of that $86 million was given under President Biden, doubtless encouraged by three Solidarity employees who went into his Labor Department. Solidarity receives 99 percent of its total revenue from American taxpayers and serves the AFL-CIO, which gave 86% of its 2024 political donations to Democrats.”

• Scott Walter also exposed how the Democrats’ witness invited to testify at the hearing opposes DOGE and supports radical NGOs and their taxpayer-funded slush funds. “Today’s Democratic witness, Diane Yentel, provides further examples of nonprofits serving Big Government. One of her typical tweets attacked DOGE and defended the radical Vera Institute of Justice, which in 2023 received $207 million—or 79 percent—of its $263 million total revenues from government. The Vera Institute is a hard-left, George Soros-backed group whose priorities—soft-on-crime policies and the legal defense of illegal aliens—are opposed to the views of America’s democratic majority.”

The Trump Administration and DOGE are taking action to unmask these NGO schemes and claw back funds. Congress must also act to shut down the pipeline that keeps this money laundering machine running.

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) the chairwoman of the DOGE Subcommittee, called for the NGO slush fund to be shut down. “This ongoing waste and abuse of taxpayer resources must end. The Trump Administration is turning the tide, and today’s hearing is intended to expedite the effort to drain these slush funds dry. If we don’t, Democrats can’t wait to return to power and continue funding their NGO friends through these slush funds to stop deportations, keep these illegal alien criminals in our country, and fund the Green New Deal scam.”

• Scott Walter testified how there needs to be more accountability for how U.S. taxpayer dollars are spent. “Business-as-usual with federal tax dollars sent unaccountably to big nonprofits disserves both government and the nonprofit sector. The deficit-plagued federal government needs to waste a lot less of our money, and a nonprofit sector addicted to government funding needs to leave the political trenches and learn to refocus on real acts of charity.”

• Mark Krikorian testified that Congress must act to cut funding for NGOs that actively undermine U.S. immigration laws. “In testimony gathered from migrants themselves and NGO workers can be found repeated confirmation that U.S.-funded aid agencies actively promote the journey northward and prepare individuals with narratives designed to meet U.S. asylum thresholds — even if those narratives do not originate from credible persecution claims. Congress needs to act now — investigate, cut funding, and hold any group accountable that acts in contradiction to U.S. laws and national interests.”

• Mr. Daniel Turner testified that Congress must end the NGO slush fund. “Any future President can announce a slush fund, appoint loyalists to dole it out, and anyone can create a group to get government billions, if they know the right people, bypassing that pesky thing called Congress. For our nation to survive, Congress must restore trust in government, end the slush fund abuse, stop the grift, and it is my sincere hope that my appearance here today can help begin the process.”

Member Highlights:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) exposed the “Democrat Circle of Life”: a scheme in which a Democrat administration is elected, creates a slush fund for NGOs, and funnels taxpayer resources to those organizations. Often, former officials then go to work for the NGO after leaving public office and use their lavish salaries to donate to Democrat campaigns.

“This scheme works in a cycle. 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 agencies’ behavior. It can be hard to tell where the government ends and the NGO begins. The non-profits essentially serve as an arm of the government. To put it another way, if the permanent bureaucracy is the de-facto fourth branch of government, then these leftist NGOs are the fifth.”

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Daniel Turner, exposed who benefits when NGOs receive billions in taxpayer resources to advance the Green New Deal scam.  

Rep. Comer: “The Full Committee has an investigation into the Biden Administration’s $20 billion Green Energy Scam, known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), and the NGOs that received significant amounts of money through it. Could you tell us about this? Who else benefits from these handouts?”

Mr. Turner: “Operatives aligned to these organizations: consultancy groups, PR firms, lawyers. And it’s all just an enormous cabal.”

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) questioned Scott Walter about the sheer number of NGOs receiving taxpayer funds. 

Rep. Cloud: “Mr. Walter […], how many [NGOs] are there […] where much of their income is from taxpayer dollars?”

Mr. Walter: “Shockingly, there are at least 35,000 NGOs that receive most of their money from government.”

Rep. Brian Jack (R-Ga.) and Mark Krikorian discussed how taxpayer-funded NGOs have encouraged illegal immigration to the U.S.

Mr. Krikorian: “The whole point of enforcing immigration law is to make it impractical to live here […] What nonprofit groups during the previous administration did, and frankly, even before that, was to make it practical, to make it easier for illegal immigrants to live here illegally, thereby kind of undoing any deterrent effect or any incentive to self deport, to go home […] What a lot of nonprofit groups have done is take away the incentive to go home, and that needs to change.”

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) exposed Diane Yentel – the Democrats’ witness and self-proclaimed expert on NGOs – for her history of partisan and radical leftist posts on social media. 

Rep. Gill: “You’ve written a lot about anti racism and white fragility and things like that. Do you believe that President Trump is a racist? 

Ms. Yentel: “I don’t believe that’s relevant.”

Rep. Gill: “Do you believe that he is?”

Ms. Yentel: “I’m not here to discuss their personal beliefs.:

Rep. Gill: “You’ve tweeted that he’s a vile racist.”

[…]

Rep. Gill: “Do you believe that art exploration camps for transgender and gender diverse youth at the age of 11 is normal? 

Ms. Yentel: “We support the vital work of nonprofit organizations …”

[…]

Rep. Gill: “You’re a radical, far left activist, and you’re masquerading as somebody promoting nonprofit, nonpartisan institutions.”

Click here to watch the hearing