With President Trump’s commitment to putting America first, we should be able to find money to help Americans suffering in North Carolina and California within the current budget.

We can do so by simply refusing to pay our adversaries and eliminating absurd levels of waste in international organizations.

Sadly, there is plenty of money available, thanks to a striking difference between the modern left and Republicans.

The modern left sees America as a piggy bank to be raided for the benefit of other countries. International organizations and international authority are more important than American sovereignty and interests to the Democratic Party.

When international organizations fail, Democrats ignore the failures because the moral imperative of strengthening international organizations ranks higher than bad outcomes.

If a United Nations peacekeeping force happens to employ rapists and criminals who prey on the population they are supposed to protect, the modern left accepts this in the name of international cooperation.

If America-funded aid workers in Gaza turn out to be active supporters of Hamas — and in some cases accomplices in the October 7 massacre — this must be overlooked for the good of the international effort.

If United Nations forces fail to prevent violence between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, at least they meant well. The left feels better doing something that leads to disaster than being realistic about the true price of peace.

Chairman Mike McCaul of the House Foreign Affairs Committee commented on how irrational the left’s policy of throwing money away really is. As he put it on May 21, 2024:

“Since the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the United States government has provided over $2.8 billion to address the humanitarian crisis created by the Taliban takeover.”

In 2023, Mr. McCaul requested that the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report on how many American tax dollars are going to the Taliban. The SIGAR reported nearly $11 million have been given to the barbaric fanatical organization.

As Mr. McCaul said last year, “It is unacceptable for any U.S. funding to benefit the Taliban. The Biden administration must take immediate action to prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from going to the Taliban.”

Also, consider our aid efforts in the West Bank. In the 2024 budget, we have distributed $252.2 million to various aid efforts. This is up from $112 million the previous year. Meanwhile, violence continues and the need for aid grows.

After decades of activity in the Middle East, America should know that sending money or supplies into areas controlled by a vicious government, organized terrorists, or criminal syndicates doesn’t work. The bad actors simply take the goods and redistribute them to their allies. This only strengthens the organizations that hate us.

The two most puzzling large donations of American money to individual countries are Venezuela and Yemen. A humanitarian case can be made for both countries. However, objective reality shows us that the Maduro dictatorship is deeply anti-American. The Houthis in Yemen are a major problem in attacking shipping in the Red Sea.

Has the $3.7 billion we’ve sent to Venezuela since 2017 helped the people or simply propped up the dictatorship? For $2.8 billion to Yemen in the last three years, why do we have so little influence in stopping the Houthis from attacking shipping and attacking Israel?

In 2005, the former Senate leader, George Mitchell, and I co-chaired a task force on reforming the United Nations. We found it filled with nepotism, cronyism, and corruption. We also found that dictatorships had far too much power and influence. If anything, it is worse today.

Despite the UN’s frequent anti-American posture, inefficiencies, and systemic corruption, America gives the world body billions every year. In fact, in 2022, the Biden administration gave it a one-year jump to $18.1 billion from $12.5 billion in 2021. It is inconceivable to me that we are getting our money’s worth out of this kind of investment.

There is a lot of money being squandered around the world. When we look at the recent hurricane in North Carolina and ongoing wildfire in California, we must ask ourselves if Afghanistan, Venezuela, Yemen, and the United Nations are more worthy of our resources than American citizens.

It is time to invest in the people of Los Angeles rather than Caracas.

It is time to provide help to Asheville rather than Kabul.

This is a clear example of putting America and Americans first. The money has already been appropriated, it just needs to be reallocated. We could provide aid to Americans with no increase to the deficit.

Let’s put Americans before our adversaries.