Last week, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) issued a press release to introduce the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act that requires every grant sent to China and Russia to be monitored. Gallagher and Ernst are working with the non-profit transparency group Open the Books to ensure that American dollars are not aiding our competitors, namely China and Russia.
“Thanks to Senator Ernst’s work, we know the federal government has wasted more than one billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars on our adversaries. This is crazy, but to make matters worse, this may only be the tip of the iceberg,” said Wisconsin House Representative Mike Gallagher.
According to the press release, Rep. Mike Gallagher and Sen. Ernst are heading the TRACKS Act that would closely follow every handout given to China and Russia. The recent analysis published by Senator Ernst and Open the Books found that an estimated sum exceeding $1.3 billion in U.S. tax dollars has been disbursed to Russia and China over the course of the last five years. According to the press release, this figure is likely an underestimate due to the lack of comprehensive tracking by federal agencies, which makes it difficult to trace the exact destination of these tax dollars. Based on data provided by the Congressional Research Service, Senator Ernst and Open the Books have identified that over $490 million of U.S. grants and contracts were allocated to Chinese organizations during the aforementioned period. Furthermore, an additional $870 million was disbursed to entities in Russia.
According to the press release, Sen. Joni Ernst said the federal government’s spending is out of control, so much so that it is unable to provide details as to the millions of taxpayer dollars that are being sent to China and Russia. Ernst claimed the TRACKS Act, however, ensures a detailed account of “every penny.” She said, “I’m shining a light on this reckless spending, so bureaucrats can no longer cover up their tracks and taxpayers can know exactly what their hard-earned dollars are funding.”
The New York Post reported on the $1.3 billion in question. According to the New York Post, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found inadequate monitoring of approximately $8 million in grants provided to EcoHealth Alliance by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) between 2014 and 2021, with $1.8 million going to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other recipients. The State and Defense departments allocated $58.7 million and $51 million respectively for Russian and Chinese contracts and grants. HHS contributed $4.2 million to Russian lab work, including treadmill experiments with cats. Additional funding went to US-sanctioned Russian companies, Russian alcohol and addiction research, and COVID relief in China.“When our money lands in adversarial nations…we must be equipped to explain why and whether it helps or harms us,” said Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski according to The Post.
According to their website, Open the Books is a government watchdog organization that is focused on obtaining and publicizing government spending receipts at all levels, not just the Federal government. Last year, according to the website, they filed 50,000 Freedom of Information Acts (FOIA). (https://www.openthebooks.com/about-us/) According to the press release, Adam Andrzejewski, Founder and CEO of Open the Books called transparency the “information machine for democracy.” He said, “Everyone has a stake in a more transparent, effective government.”
