Executive
Waste of the Day: Biden Admin Gives $100,000 For Palestinian Girls’ Running and Wellness
The Biden administration spent $100,000 for a running and wellness program for 200 Palestinian adolescent girls before the latest war.
As Israel fights a war against the terrorist group Hamas, the Biden administration has funded $100,000 for 200 adolescent Palestinian girls and young women to participate in weekly running and wellness sessions.
Federal funding records show that the U.S. Department of State awarded the funding in September for a roughly two-year initiative to Free to Run, a Connecticut-based nonprofit seeking “to increase the opportunities for women and girls to engage in public life, using sport as a tool of empowerment and education,” the Washington Examiner reported.
According to federal records, the program is being administered in the West Bank.
Lawmakers have protested the U.S. giving federal funding to Gaza and the West Bank after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and took more hostage, especially worrying that aid could end up in the hands of terrorists.
Free to Run founder and president Stephanie Case is chief of the refugee protection division for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, an agency that deals with Palestinian aid. For years, lawmakers and national security experts have scrutinized the group for sharing ties with Hamas and employing teachers who have celebrated terrorism against Jews, including after the Oct. 7 attack, The Washington Examiner reported.
The $100,000 from the State Department sent to Free to Run is not its first federal handout.
Last September, the State Department pledged $50,400 to the organization “to make powerful advances in the leadership skills through adventure sports (primarily running)” for 100 displaced young women in Iraq, according to federal spending records. And in April 2019, Trump’s State Department awarded the charity $77,300 “to empower & educate 100 females between the ages of 15-25 in 2 regions and across 4 communities,” records show.
Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Open The Books, said the latest Free to Run grant shows that Congress must go line-by-line and stop the government’s “frivolous and stupid spending.”
“I’m signed up for my 10th Chicago Marathon and certainly understand the benefits of running,” Andrzejewski, an avid outdoorsman, told the Washington Examiner. “However, there’s no public purpose for this six-figure grant being underwritten by the American taxpayer with every dime borrowed against our national debt.”
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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