US legislator tells Biden to stop funding gay activities in Zimbabwe

United States House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast has told outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Agency for International Development administrator Samantha Power to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on programmes like gay awareness in Zimbabwe. 

“As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I am concerned by the accelerated pace of proposed funding for controversial State Department and US Agency for International Development programs in the final days of the Biden Administration,” Mast wrote in a letter yesterday.

“In recent weeks, my office has been made aware of hundreds of millions of dollars of proposed obligations for initiatives that offer no clear national security benefit to the U.S. or its allies.

“The American people sent a clear message in November that they will no longer tolerate uncontrolled spending on programs that are incompatible with the United States’ interests abroad. As their representative, I cannot, in good faith, allow you to spend millions of dollars to combat climate change in the war-torn Middle East or fund LGBTQI awareness in Zimbabwe –both of which are among your recent proposals.

“The rush to fund these and other controversial programs on the eve of a new administration contradicts President Biden’s pledge to conduct a smooth transition and undermines critical Congressional oversight of taxpayer dollars spent abroad. As such, I am invoking the longstanding precedent granted to authorizing and appropriating committees to place a hold on these funds before they are obligated.”

Mast also posted on his X handle yesterday: “We’re not going to sit back and be played for fools like Joe Biden. This is a new sheriff in town, and if you hurt Americans, it’s going to be painful forever for you.”

President Joe Biden is stepping down on 20 January when Donald Trump takes over.

It is not clear how much the US intended to pour into gay activities in the country.

Although there are gay associations in the country, homosexuality is illegal in terms of Zimbabwe’s laws.

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