Appearing on a podcast with comedian Theo Von, Vice President J.D. Vance revealed that White House estimates show just 12 cents of every dollar spent on U.S. humanitarian aid actually reaches its intended recipients.
"One of the crazy things we all figured out, like the first week or so we were in the White House, is there was a payment that should be stopped, because the president signed an executive order to stop a payment. And this is like day one in the White House," Vance said. "We were like, how do we stop this payment. Because somebody is trying to make this payment, and nobody knew where, like the computer was that actually wired the money from the U.S. taxpayer to this entity."
"God..." Theo Von replied.
"The amount of waste and the amount of just grift in the federal government was off the charts. It's getting better, but there is still a lot more I think we can find."
"Who was getting, I don't know, one person that was getting extra, I don't think. Unless everybody was slurping off," Von replied.
"I mean, a lot of people were slurping, man," Vance continued. "You look at...So, for example, there are all these humanitarian programs that we have, where we send money for medicine, for food, okay? What I thought before I got in the government, what most Americans think is okay, so we send $100,000 to this group to buy food for like poor kids in Africa. Okay? And what actually happens is it's not $100,000 that go to the food for poor kids in Africa. The NGO, the non-government organization that gets that money, contracts it out to somebody else. Then they subcontract it out. There's like three or four middlemen."
And what Marco Rubio, he's the Secretary of State, he's a very good friend. What he told me is that his best estimate after he had his team look at it is that $0.88 of every dollar was actually being collected by middlemen. So every dollar we were spending on humanitarian assistance, $0.12 was actually making it to people who needed it. That's crazy! So there's a lot of waste, man, a lot of crazy stuff.
🚨 HOLY CRAP. JD Vance reveals the White House confirmed only 12% PERCENT of our foreign aid went to the people who needed it
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 20, 2026
"Every dollar we were spending on humanitarian assistance, $0.12 was actually making it to people who needed it!" pic.twitter.com/pjjMXzckNG
"Most thought…
While waste, fraud, and abuse have long been problems inherent in the federal government, the Trump administration has made significant efforts to address them specifically through programs like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Both President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have emphasized their commitment to ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent effectively and that unnecessary waste is minimized, though systemic issues remain a significant roadblock. It remains unclear what new initiatives are aimed at increasing accountability and making humanitarian aid and federal programs more efficient.