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'Why are we paying for this?': Trump slams $21M USAID funding for India's elections
According to the information released by DOGE and Musk in the public domain, USAID allocated US$ 21 million for voter turnout in India.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 18, 2025. / REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump on Feb. 18 questioned the decision of the previous Biden Administration to provide a US$ 21 million in financial assistance to India for voter turnout.
“US$21 million for voter turnout in India. Why are we giving US$ 21 million to India? They got a lot of money. They're one of the highest-taxing countries in the world in terms of us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump, 78, was responding to a question about his confidant and Tesla owner Elon Musk, who he has appointed as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In the last few days, DOGE has released data on wasteful expenditure by USAID or the US Agency for International Development.
According to the information released by DOGE and Musk in the public domain, USAID allocated US$ 21 million for voter turnout in India. USAID money is normally given through non-profit organizations. At Mar-a-Lago, Trump read out these numbers from a paper in his hand.
“I have a lot of respect for India. I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister. He just left, as you know, two days ago. We're giving US$ 21 million for voter turnout. It's voter turnout in India! What about, like, voter turnout here (in the US)?” Trump said, expressing his surprise over using American taxpayers’ money overseas.
India, the most mature and largest democracy in the world, had a 65.79 percent voter turnout in the 2024 general elections. On the other hand, the voter turnout in the US in 2024 was 63.9 per cent. “That is below the 66.6 percent voter turnout recorded in 2020, which was the highest voter turnout rate in a U.S. presidential election since 1900,” James M Lindsay wrote in Council for Foreign Relations in December 2024.
Lindsay said the election of 1876 holds the record for the highest percentage of voter turnout: 82.6 percent.
In his remarks, Trump also read from the list of other wasteful expenditures by USAID.
“US$ 20 million dollars for fiscal federalism in Nepal. This is all fraud. US$ 19 million for biodiversity conservation in Nepal. US$ 1.5 million for voter confidence. We want to give them confidence in Liberia. US$14 million for social cohesion in Mali. US$ 2.5 million for inclusive democracies in South Africa,” he said.
“US$ 47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia. Asia is doing very well. They're doing a lot better than we do in the schools, right? US$ 2 million to develop sustainable recycling models to increase socioeconomic cohesion among marginalized communities in Kosovo and Ashkali and in Egypt,” he said.
“We're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. I could read this all day long. I could go on all day long, and you'll see hundreds of billions of dollars, (of wasteful expenditure,” Trump said.
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