Press Releases

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Van Drew issued the following statement on the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) efforts to rein in wasteful spending. DOGE has been tasked with identifying fraud and waste in the federal government. They do not make cuts themselves but rather they make recommendations to the President and Congress who have the final say in what gets cut.

"Washington bureaucrats have been wasting the American people's hard-earned money for far too long, and it is time for that to stop," said Congressman Van Drew. "But let's be clear—these cuts need to be made with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. We must make sure your tax dollars are spent where they actually belong.

"While hardworking Americans are breaking their backs, working two or three jobs to put food on the table, the government is spending billions overseas on things like:

• $15 million for condoms to the Taliban;
• $2 million for sex changes and LGBTQ activism in Guatemala;
• $1.5 million for LGBT DEI in Serbian workplaces;
• $70,000 for a DEI music festival in Ireland;
• $2.5 million on electric vehicles for Vietnam;
• $446,700 to promote atheism in Nepal;
• $47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia;
• $20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador;
• $14 million in cash vouchers for illegal immigrants at the southern border.

"It is absolutely outrageous. Every single dollar the government spends should serve the American people first, not foreign interests, not useless bureaucratic nonsense, and certainly not illegal immigrants. We should stop taxing Social Security, stop taxing tips, and stop taxing overtime. We should not go after Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or any of the critical programs American families rely on. No hardworking families, no farmers, no hospitals, and no seniors should be hurt by this. We must strengthen the programs that actually matter by eliminating unnecessary spending, allowing us to reinvest those resources into expanding and improving the services that truly matter.

"We cannot continue to spend money we do not have on the things we do not need. We must do the right thing by focusing on waste, not the core programs that millions of Americans depend on. We are working with the administration to ensure that we no longer spend money on programs like teaching journalists in Sri Lanka to "avoid binary-gender language". This is about protecting our country's future, keeping our promises, and making sure America always comes first."