President Donald Trump has made the elimination of government waste central to his second term. The Department of Government Efficiency has taken a chainsaw to legacy programs and institutional recipients of government welfare. Gone are entire institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Institute for Peace. National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service will lose government grants. More than a quarter-million bureaucrats have received buyouts or pink slips.
Given the size of U.S. debt, downsizing is necessary, though Trump and de facto DOGE chief Elon Musk’s inattention to law or process raised hackles. Other critics point out that despite all the headlines about fat-trimming and cost-cutting, Trump and the DOGE team have overstated the savings to the people. To be fair to the White House, though, stopping the flow will bring increasing savings over time.
Still, the international community and the unelected bureaucracy that populates international organizations continue to play skittles with American taxpayer money and act contrary to both financial prudence and U.S. national interest.
An International Monetary Fund desk officer responsible for an African country once described the dynamic of repeated loans to a government everyone knew was corrupt. More than a dozen previous loans had not rescued the banking sector or set the country’s finances on firmer ground, but fear of economic collapse kept precipitating new loans. In effect, the IMF policy toward corrupt countries is equivalent to paying off debts for compulsive gamblers to enable them to return to the casino and then celebrating that at least it prevented a loan shark from breaking their legs.
Some USAID officials up to and including former Administrator Samantha Power may face criminal referral for funding charities controlled by or benefiting U.S.-designated terrorist groups to the tune of more than $100 million. That may sound like a huge figure, but it is nothing compared to the waste, fraud, and abuse in which the IMF engages on the U.S. dime.
On Friday, the IMF agreed to release $1 billion to Pakistan, one of the world’s most corrupt countries. Its move came after Pakistan-based terrorists infiltrated India and executed non-Muslims in front of their families. India retaliated against the terrorist training camps. Rather than say good riddance and deny ties, Pakistani military officers attended the terrorists’ funerals while in uniform and then attacked India. Given the fungibility of money, those are not actions of a regime serious about reform or financial solvency. Terrorist sponsors seldom prioritize their own citizenry’s well-being.
By sending money to Pakistan, the IMF is also effectively bailing out the People’s Republic of China. Pakistan is today a satrapy of China. Its Gwadar port was the original pearl on China’s string, and its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has put Islamabad $40 billion in the red.
To release $1 billion to a terror-addled, pro-China regime at a time the White House has been seeking to de-escalate tensions between two nuclear states was not just about Pakistan; it was about the IMF thumbing its nose at President Donald Trump.
THE IMF MUST STOP BAILING OUT PAKISTAN
Trump should not tolerate such waste, fraud, or disrespect. The United States commits upwards of $150 billion to the IMF in both quota and supplemental funding. On Feb. 4, Trump signed an executive order that required the secretary of state to review within 180 days U.S. participation in all international organizations “of which the United States is a member and provides any type of funding.”
Given the IMF’s poor record and especially its 25 loans to Pakistan, of which last week’s was only the latest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio should not wait even that long. By saving more than $100 billion in one fell swoop, Trump could silence those who argue he continues to sell an illusion rather than trim spending. He can also call the bluff of those at the IMF, and by extension World Bank and United Nations, who think they are immune to the consequences of corruption and terrorist finance.
Michael Rubin is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.