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There will not be a 3-point contest between the NBA’s Steph Curry and the WNBA’s Sabrina Ionescu at this NBA All-Star Weekend Saturday or Sunday in San Francisco.

“We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment,” NBA chief communications officer Mike Bass said. “We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.”

Last season at All-Star Weekend Indianapolis, Ionescu and Curry put on a 3-point show with Curry edging his friend 29-26, and there was talk the two players would return this season for another display of 3-point shooting.

Curry’s Warriors are the host, and Ionescu grew up in the Bay Area, and earlier this season, NBA commissioner Adam Silver indicated there would be similar event this year.

“I can’t remember if they’ve formally committed or informally committed but they know they’re going to be doing this again,” Silver told reporters in Mexico City earlier this season. “They are looking forward to it. I think as soon as they walked off the court after the competition last year, in fact they said we need more than one round to make it even fairer. So we’re going to be doing more things.

Earlier this month, Ionescu told USA TODAY Sports, “Whether it happens this year or in the future, we both have a lot of basketball left, so we’ll definitely get to it at some point. It’s kind of TBD on that. But I am excited to get to the Bay. Obviously I am from the Bay, so my whole family is very excited to be able to see me and welcome me home.’

All sides involved were still in talks this week about a format that would resonate and not be a repeat of Steph vs. Sabrina. They fell short of finding a way to elevate the format such as Curry and Ionescu teaming up against two-time 3-point champion Damian Lillard and WNBA All-Star Caitlin Clark.

Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, did not participate in the WNBA’s 2024 All-Star 3-point contest and said in January she wanted her first 3-point contest as a professional to take place at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.

Curry has won the NBA 3-point contest twice (2015, 2021) but is not in this year’s field.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday her government was deciding whether to initiate a lawsuit against Google for renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America on Google Maps. 

‘We are going to wait. We are already seeing, observing what this would mean from the perspective of legal advice, but we hope that they will make a revision,’ Sheinbaum said, according to Reuters. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Google. 

Google renamed the body of water after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to change it. Now, Google Maps users in the United States will see ‘Gulf of America’ in the app, and users outside the U.S. and Mexico see both terms, the company said.

‘We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory,’ Trump said Tuesday. ‘The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.’

Sheinbaum has decried the move, saying the Gulf of Mexico name has long been recognized internationally.

‘All we are asking of Google is to look at the decree that the White House released and that President Donald Trump signed. You’ll see in that decree that it does not refer to the whole gulf,’ Sheinbaum said.

‘If necessary, we will file a civil suit,’ she added. ‘Our legal area is already looking into what that would mean, but we hope that (Google) reconsiders.’

Aside from Google, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sent out a charting notice confirming that its systems were in the process of updating the name, in addition to updating the newly named Mount McKinley in Alaska, formerly known as Denali.

‘Please be advised that the FAA is in the process of updating our data and charts to show a name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and a name change from Denali to Mount McKinley. This will be targeted for the next publication cycle,’ the notice said.

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President Donald Trump floated a joint meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming he wants all countries to move toward denuclearization. 

Trump on Thursday told reporters he plans to advance these denuclearization talks once ‘we straighten it all out’ in the Middle East and Ukraine, comments that come as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are actively pursuing negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

‘There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,’ Trump said Thursday at the White House. ‘You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.’

‘We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,’ he said.

The U.S. is projected to spend approximately $756 billion on nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in 2023. 

Additionally, Trump said that he was aiming to schedule meetings with Xi and Putin early on in his second term and request that the countries cut their military budgets in half. The president said he believes ‘we can do that,’ and remained indifferent about whether he traveled to Xi or Putin, or if they visited the White House. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

The U.S. maintains 3,748 nuclear warheads as of September 2023, a drop from the stockpile of 22,217 nuclear warheads in 1989, according to the Department of Energy. The agency reported the U.S. owned a maximum of 31,255 nuclear warheads in 1966. 

In comparison, Russia has an estimated stockpile of roughly 4,380 nuclear warheads, while China boasts an arsenal of roughly 600, according to the Federation of American Scientists. 

Trump’s remarks build on previous statements he made in January at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he signaled interest in talks on denuclearization with both Russia and China. 

‘Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it,’ Trump said on Jan. 23. 

Previous talks between the U.S., Russia and China fell through in 2020 during Trump’s first administration after he refused to sign an extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia to impose limits on each country’s nuclear arsenals. The treaty ultimately was renewed under the Biden administration and now expires in 2026, but Russia suspended its participation. 

On Thursday, Trump accused these negotiations of falling apart due what he called the ‘rigged election’ in 2020. 

Trump also said on Thursday that Putin wants peace after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, comments that followed back-to-back calls with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday. 

Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war — or face sanctions — in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22. 

‘Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,’ Trump wrote. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.’

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Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts blasted Elon Musk on Wednesday and argued that his DOGE efforts are undermining the ‘values’ of the United States, and promised to ‘fight’ against them. 

Elon Musk has probably never stepped into a public school, his kids will get private tutors, he doesn’t understand it, he has no idea what this is all about,’ McGovern, who represents the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital after a rally against DOGE cuts to the Department of Education.  

‘Our teachers do an incredible job. They deserve to be respected. The Department of Education is more than just a line item,’ he continued. ‘It represents real people, and it represents our future. And so, yeah, I’m pissed.’

McGovern explained that ‘not a single’ Democrat protesting is upset about cutting fraud or waste, but said that education is not the place to start. 

‘I use colorful language because I can’t believe we’re at this moment, and I’m really pissed at my Republican colleagues who are sitting there twiddling their thumbs, afraid to say anything because they’re afraid they might get a primary challenge,’ the House Democrat continued. ‘But you know what? Being in Congress is about helping people, not screwing people. And it’s about time they grew a backbone and came out here and joined us and pushed back against this nonsense.’

McGovern argued that the Department of Education is ‘not a line item’ and that it ‘represents real people’ who could lose important funding for their children in schools. 

‘I’d like to start with the Department of Defense first, McGovern said, ‘where I can tell you there’s tons and tons of waste. They’ve never been audited successfully. All these other departments and agencies have been audited. But here’s the deal. This is not about rooting out fraud, waste, or abuse. This is about them shutting down important agencies of departments so they can have money to give billionaires and big corporations a tax break, and I’m just sick and tired of the well-off and the well-connected to this country, getting whatever the hell they want while everybody else gets screwed. We can’t stand for that.’

‘I mean, when is the last time Musk ever walked into a public school?’ McGovern said. ‘When’s the last time you walked into a supermarket? When’s the last time he actually talked to, like, real people? And as far as this DOGE thing, I don’t even know what kind of clearances Musk has or the young minions that he has around him.’

‘I don’t know what kind of clearances they have going through all this stuff. But we should be worried. They’re undermining our democracy here. They’re undermining, you know, our values. And as I said, if they want to fight, I’ll give them a goddamn fight. We’re ready for this fight.’

When asked whether he wants Musk to answer questions before Congress, McGovern said he’d like to see the Tesla and Space X CEO testify under oath.

‘I do, I want him to come before Congress. I want them to be sworn in. So he can’t lie. I mean, I saw that press conference, and It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, these guys, this is. You can’t make this stuff up.’

DOGE’s spending cuts have drawn the ire of numerous Democrats in recent weeks prompting rallies where lawmakers have pledged to fight Musk’s efforts.

The Department of Education, which Trump pledged to eliminate when he was on the campaign trail, has been a particularly heated subject, and Trump recently suggested that he still intends to get rid of it and send education decisions to the states.

‘Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,’ Trump said this week. ‘They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.’

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Last week, White House crypto czar David Sacks held his first press conference to discuss the future of crypto policy coming out of the Trump administration.

While that will include stablecoin legislation and digital asset regulation, Sacks told CNBC that a top agenda idea is also evaluating “whether it’s feasible to create either a bitcoin reserve or some sort of digital asset stockpile.”

But will the momentum around bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies carry over to corporate America more broadly, appearing on balance sheets?

To date, companies with exposure to bitcoin in their business operations have been the first movers in this space, in many cases, to show their support and buy-in to the industry. According to the bitcoin tracking website Bitcointreasuries, 79 public companies currently hold bitcoin, with some of the largest holders being companies like Riot Platforms, Coinbase and Block. 

Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, and its co-founder, Michael Saylor, have been the champion of this approach as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. On its third-quarter earnings call earlier this month, the company said it holds 471,107 bitcoins on its balance sheet, about 2% of the total supply and worth roughly $45.2 billion.

Also on the list of crypto industry companies holding bitcoin on the balance sheet is Moonpay, a venture-backed financial technology company that builds payments infrastructure for crypto. The company has added bitcoin to its balance sheet equal to 5% of its operational cash, according to CEO Ivan Soto-Wright.

While Soto-Wright said some of the thought process is that “we’re only going to succeed if bitcoin succeeds,” he believes there is a growing argument to include bitcoin in any company’s treasury strategy.

“It’s really detached both from interest rates and equity market movements, so you could see it from that perspective,” he said. “You could also see it from the perspective of an inflation hedge .. in terms of large money movement, it’s incredibly efficient so you could argue it’s a better version of gold.” 

That is one of the arguments that Saylor has made, and one he repeated while making one of the most high-profile pushes to spur a major U.S. company to add bitcoin to its balance sheet, appearing at Microsoft’s annual meeting to speak on behalf of a shareholder proposal that called on the company’s board to evaluate holding bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Saylor doubled down on that message at the ICR conference earlier this year, where in a presentation he said that companies can either “cling to the past” and continue to buy Treasury bonds, execute buybacks and dividends, or “embrace the future” by using bitcoin as digital capital.

“It works for any company,” Saylor said in the retail conference’s keynote speech. “We’re the people building with steel and they’re building with wood.”

At least in the short-term, it can look good, too. Tesla, one of the few non-crypto-focused companies to hold bitcoin on its balance sheet, showed the positive side of this in its most recent quarter when it marked a $600 million profit due to the appreciation of bitcoin. The Financial Accounting Standards Board adopted a new rule for 2025 that mandates that corporate digital asset holdings be marked to market each quarter. 

But so far, the message and broader movement has not spread much wider than the crypto industry. Just 0.55% of votes at Microsoft’s annual meeting supported the plan. Microsoft, as well as proxy advisors Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, had all suggested shareholders reject the proposal ahead of the vote.

Microsoft said in an October proxy filing that its treasury and investment services team previously evaluated bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fund the company’s operations and reduce economic risk, adding that it “continues to monitor trends and developments related to cryptocurrencies to inform future decision making.”

At Microsoft’s annual meeting, CFO Amy Hood said: “it’s important to remember our criteria and our goals of our balance sheet and for the cash balances, importantly, is to preserve capital, to allow a lot of liquidity to be able to fund our operations and partnerships and investments .. liquidity is also a really important criteria for us, as well as generating income.”

The lack of adoption so far isn’t discouraging proponents of companies holding bitcoin on the balance sheet. Ethan Peck, the deputy director of the Free Enterprise Project, which is part of conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research, filed the shareholder proposal at Microsoft and said he plans to file similar proposals during the upcoming proxy season at other large companies. In all, it has been recently estimated that the S&P 500 universe of companies collectively holds over $3.5 trillion on balance sheets, though the figure changes quarter-to-quarter.

While Peck said he is not advocating for companies to take as aggressive of a stance as Strategy has, “Companies should consider holding a couple percent of bitcoin in order to negate or offset the base of your cash holdings because you’re losing your shareholders’ money.”

“The bond yields are not outpacing real inflation, so you’re losing money,” Peck said.

The performance of bitcoin over the past five years. Bitcoin has vastly outperformed cash equivalents, though with much greater volatility.

However, that debate is far from decided in corporate America, according to Markus Veith, who leads Grant Thornton’s digital asset practice, especially as bitcoin has reacted more in line with the broader stock market than inflation over the last year or so, and volatility is still high — something that Microsoft’s board also pointed out in its rejection of that shareholder proposal.

Veith said regulation might also be holding companies back. The SEC rescinded SAB 121 in January, a rule that required banks to classify cryptocurrencies as liabilities on their balance sheet, creating a capital requirement burden that kept many banks from providing custody for crypto assets.

That’s a change that could lead banks, including Goldman Sachs, to revisit the issue. CEO David Solomon told CNBC at Davos last month that “At the moment, from a regulatory perspective, we can’t own” bitcoin, but he added that the bank would revisit the issue if the rules changed. Much of Wall Street is also starting to at least cautiously sing a different tune, with Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan both telling CNBC while at Davos last month that their institutions could allow broader adoption if the regulatory environment changes. 

But regulation can’t solve the issue of crypto’s extreme volatility, and the concern that there may be another downturn at some point. “What do you do if there’s going to be another crypto winter, and the price goes down and you’re sitting for a prolonged basis on a big stash of bitcoin and the price keeps going down? How do you explain that to your stakeholders, shareholders, or board? That’s probably what is hindering more companies from going into this space,” Veith said. 

The most recent CNBC CFO Council quarterly survey, taken in December, is a reflection of that risk assessment: 78% of the CFO respondents to the survey said bitcoin is a highly speculative asset class, while 7% said it is a credible store of value. Furthermore, 11% said it is a fraud, though that latter view has come down over time in the quarterly CFO survey.

As the Trump administration continues to embrace crypto, the crypto view from within corporate America could change more.

Asked if he thinks companies are reassessing the things they once assumed about crypto, Soto-Wright pointed to the overtures coming out of Washington, D.C., and the potential for a national reserve and additional regulation changes.

“If you look at the general trends, it’s becoming more adopted by institutions as there’s more circulation, as there are more products that come to market, and as it starts to develop its statute and stance as a truly diversified, uncorrelated financial instrument,” he said.

“I think you’ll start to see more and more companies recognize that in their treasury portfolio management strategy, this is another asset that is legitimized,” Soto-Wright said.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Four players under coach Deion Sanders at Colorado have been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis later this month. But there’s one notable exclusion. Sanders’ middle son, Shilo, was not invited. As a safety, he was Colorado’s leading tackler in 2023 and third-leading tackler in 2024 despite missing three games with a broken forearm.

Colorado’s list of invitees otherwise includes:

∎ Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who was invited as a defensive back, though he still also hopes to play wide receiver in the NFL as well.

∎ Sanders’ youngest son, Shedeur, a quarterback who finished as the major-college leader in career completion percentage (71.8%).

∎ Receivers Jimmy Horn Jr. and LaJohntay Wester, two Florida natives and two of Shedeur Sanders’ favorite targets.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Both Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are expected to be top picks in the NFL draft in April, which would be the first time the Buffaloes had any player drafted directly out of CU since 2021. Last year, the Buffs had one player invited to the combine – receiver Xavier Weaver.

Shilo Sanders, 25, was not expected to be an early-round draft pick but did participate in the East-West Shrine Bowl college all-star game last month in Texas. He recorded five tackles, tied for second on his team.

Also not invited for Colorado was wide receiver Will Sheppard, a Vanderbilt transfer who was third on the team in receiving with 48 catches for 621 yards. That ranked behind Hunter and Wester but ahead of Horn, who missed two games with injury.

The NFL announced a total of 329 prospects have been invited to attend this year’s combine from Feb. 24 through March 3. The NFL draft starts April 24 in Green Bay.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

(This story was updated to add new information.)

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The recent string of burglaries taking place at the professional athletes’ homes across the nation is being attributed to multiple South American gangs, according to officials.

Three Chilean men were charged in relation to the events that unfolded at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home on Dec. 9. The alleged burglars are accused of stealing nearly $300,000 worth of items from the quarterback’s residence.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich announced the charges on Wednesday.

Jordan Francisco Quiroga Sanchez, 22, Bastian Alejandro Orellana Morales, 23, and Sergio Andres Ortega Cabello, 38, have been indicted in Hamilton County on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and burglary.

They were also indicted on federal charges in connection with the burglary of Burrow’s home.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Prosecutors said they also arrested a fourth man, Alexander Esteban Huaiquil Chavez, with the trio. However, he was not connected to the burglary.

Sanchez, Morales and Cabello are in custody in Clark County and will not be released on bond, Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said at the press conference. There is an immigration detainer on the men preventing them from leaving the country if they do post bond, Pillich said.

She added that they have created a specialized task force, which is overseen by the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, to deal with these high-profile crimes.

‘Trust me, this will not be the last case that comes out of this investigation,’ Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.

He warned residents to exercise caution and avoid provoking a confrontation if they catch someone breaking into their home. Yost added that he doesn’t know what the gang will do now since the investigation and indictment are now public.

It’s the latest chapter in a story that has swept the nation since at least the beginning of September 2024.

The FBI got involved in late December when the total was up to at least nine professional athletes, including Burrow, Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, former Dallas Mavericks and current Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, among others, according to a report from ABC News.

Burrow was not home during the break-in and was instead playing against the Dallas Cowboys on ‘Monday Night Football’ in Week 14 of the 2024 NFL regular season.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

TCU center Sedona Prince, a women’s college basketball and social media star, has been the subject of several abuse allegations dating back to 2019.The most recent incident – an alleged altercation with a former girlfriend – happened last month, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

According to the Post, a TCU student went to the Fort Worth, Texas, police department Jan. 18 to report Prince had assaulted her. The woman also said Prince asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

Prince went to the police as well to report she had been assaulted and that she suffered a black eye. No charges have been filed.

Through her attorney, Prince denied all allegations against her and said she has never ‘abused anyone in her life, whether mentally, emotionally or physically.’

‘Unfortunately, others have decided to use Sedona as a launch point for their careers,’ the attorney, A. Boone Almanza said to the Washington Post. ‘In an effort to create some relationship privacy, Sedona has asked girlfriends to sign nondisclosure agreements because their personal, intimate moments should not be the subject of public discussion.’

Almanza did not immediately respond to USA TODAY Sports’ requests for comment.

‘The university is aware of the allegations involving one of our student-athletes and is looking into the matter. In accordance with federal privacy laws, the university does not comment on student conduct matters,’ TCU said in a statement, when asked by USA TODAY Sports if Prince was in good standing with the school and basketball team.

The Washington Post reported on three different abuse allegations against Prince, including one dating back to 2019, when a sexual misconduct lawsuit was dismissed months after it was filed. Another woman said Prince was abusive during a trip to Mexico, as detailed in videos she posted to TikTok and screenshots of text messages she shared with the Washington Post.

That incident in Mexico prompted an online petition for Prince’s removal from the TCU basketball team. That petition has more than 200,000 signatures.

Prince is averaging 17.6 points, nine rebounds, and 3.2 blocks this season for the Horned Frogs. Of the court, she is widely known for her activism in college basketball. During the 2021 NCAA tournament, while playing for Oregon, Prince made a viral TikTok video in which she asked for equality in how women players were treated compared to their male counterparts. She was also a plaintiff in two lawsuits against the NCAA.

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This article was updated to indicate an exact time these channels may no longer be available on YouTube TV.

Paramount channels, that include CBS and CBS Sports, may no longer be available on subscription streaming service YouTube TV after negotiations failed to produce a content renewal. This will bring a significant change to the content available on the popular streaming option.

The YouTube Team has issued a statement indicating that both parties collaborated to reach a fair agreement. This agreement aimed to allow YouTube to retain the Paramount channels, which will feature major sporting events quickly approaching, such as March Madness and The Masters. However, these channels may no longer be available on YouTube TV after a deal was not reached.

The YouTube Team said in the statement, ‘Despite their good faith negotiations, they have not been successful yet. The reasons for the failed negotiations have not been disclosed.’

Here is what we know about the channels that may no longer be available on YouTube TV, as negotiations continue.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

YouTube TV streaming update

After February 13, 2025, all Paramount channels, including CBS and CBS Sports, may no longer be available on YouTube TV. This also includes all existing Paramount content, including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and BET+.

YouTube TV will provide an $8 credit to users if Paramount’s content is unavailable for a prolonged period. As of February 2024, YouTube TV has more than 8 million subscribers, according to CEO Neal Mohan.

However, viewers can still access these channels through other streaming services or traditional cable TV providers.

List of the channels that will go dark

Here is a list of Paramount channels that may no longer be available on YouTube TV as negotiations continue. CBS News affiliates will also no longer be available in selected areas. A comprehensive list can be found here.

CBS
CBS Sports
Nickelodeon
Comedy Central
MTV
TV Land
Paramount Network
CMT
VH1
BET

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

USAID’s green energy programs may have done more ‘harm’ to developing nations than anything else, according to a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

‘I can’t think of anything that’s harmed the developing world more than the climate agenda,’ said Max Primorac, a top USAID official under President Donald Trump’s first administration, when asked about programs that had run afoul of American interests throughout the world.   

‘The strong counter-China infrastructure that we developed over at USAID was simply dismantled by the next administration,’ he told lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing entitled, ‘USAID Betrayal.’

‘[USAID] has pushed all of these countries, especially in Africa, to go green. Solar, wind, EV: who produces all of those materials? It’s China. Then, on top of it, we tell them, ‘No, you can’t develop your own fossil fuel industry because it’s, it’s anti-green.’ So, what happens? They can’t generate the revenues to create good jobs at home. They can’t generate the revenues in order to finance their own health, education and other needs.’

Primorac claimed that green energy infrastructure in developing countries ‘increases the price of energy.’ 

According to Primorac, 19 of the top 20 countries receiving USAID are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, securing aid from the CCP in exchange for influence. 

Primorac said that developing nations ‘want more trade, they want more investment,’ but ‘resentment’ is building in conservative countries who don’t want ‘woke things.’

The Trump administration, upon assuming office, instituted a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. Trump fired USAID’s inspector general Paul Martin this week after he wrote a report claiming Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s efforts to dismantle USAID had prevented him from conducting oversight on unspent aid of up to $8.5 billion. Martin’s report claimed that about $500 million worth of food aid is at risk of spoiling as it sits in ports while USAID staff in other nations have been called back and placed on leave. 

USAID has now been placed under the purview of the State Department and is in the process of whittling down its staff from 10,000 to fewer than 300. 

Republican witnesses at the hearing largely agreed that foreign aid was important to fighting global disease outbreaks and securing U.S. interests throughout the world, but USAID’s reputation had been ‘tarnished’ by ‘mission creep,’ as former GOP Rep. Ted Yoho, Fla., said. 

But Yoho, who said he came to Congress to slash foreign aid before realizing its importance throughout the world, and Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, warned that a blanket freeze on aid throughout the world would be detrimental. 

‘By pausing U.S. international assistance, a vacuum is created. China, Russia, or others are already moving in to fill those voids,’ said Yoho. 

‘Not being effectively present can be arguably worse than pausing a program. And all you have to do is look at South and Central America and look at how much we’ve ceded to China and their influence from Russia, China and Iran. That has to be dealt with immediately. That’s a national security threat.’ 

Natsios said he was ‘appalled’ by how the Biden administration had roped USAID into ‘culture wars.’ 

‘It’s a failure,’ he said. ‘All of the things I did at AID, I tried to do it in a way that would not alienate the Democratic Party when I left.’ 

But he noted that ‘woke’ programs were a ‘small percentage’ of the USAID budget, and the agency gives $1 billion per year to Christian NGOs. 

Republicans claim there is a waiver process, but aid advocates have said NGOs and charities do not know how to apply for the waiver, and if they receive one, no one at USAID is operating the payment systems that dole out funds. 

‘I’ve met with these Christian groups, even though they have the waivers, the Phoenix system is not operating,’ said Natsios, referring to the agency’s financial program. ‘Please do something about it.’ 

During the hearing, Republicans also pointed to USAID-funded NGOs that were conducting abortions, a program that sent millions of taxpayer dollars to dole out condoms in Afghanistan and Mozambique, $20 million for drag shows in Ecuador and $500,000 to promote atheism in Nepal. 

‘All of these programs gave USAID a black eye and that’s unfortunate,’ said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, a former chairman of the committee who claimed USAID ‘blew through’ his holds on their controversial programs.

Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast agreed. ‘When done right, foreign aid can be one of the best tools. It can help strengthen our relationships with our allies and help countries realize America is the best for them,’ he said. 

He promised that more aid oversight was to come. 

‘We are going to bring in individuals who were responsible for putting these horrible policies in place and reveal all the receipts, videos – all of it – for the American people to see.’

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