{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-power-stop-americans-tax-dollars-from-funding-terrorists", "Cotton to Power: Stop Americans\u2019 Tax Dollars from Funding Terrorists.", "2024-10-09", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nOctober 9, 2024\n\nCotton to Power: Stop Americans\u2019 Tax Dollars from Funding Terrorists.\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today wrote a letter to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samatha Power expressing grave concerns about the likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023. Senator Cotton urges her to immediately suspend all aid until taking credible and serious steps to stop Americans\u2019 tax dollars from funding terrorists.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cWhile Congress cut off funding to UNRWA earlier this year, USAID continues to work with UN agencies and other local partners in Gaza despite documented concerns about inadequate vetting and possible terrorist ties. In July, the USAID Inspector General identified multiple \u201cshortcomings and vulnerabilities in its overnight mechanisms\u201d for Gaza aid, such as inadequate vetting of local partners, reliance on self-reporting of terrorist ties from partners, reliance on inadequate vetting by UN partners, and challenges with third-party monitoring.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nOctober 9, 2024\n\nThe Honorable Samantha Power\n\nU.S. Agency for International Development Ronald Reagan Building\n\nWashington, D.C. 20523\n\nDear Administrator Power:\n\nI write to raise grave concerns about the likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023. As I predicted would happen from the outset, credible reporting indicates that Hamas terrorists have diverted this aid; indisputable evidence demonstrates that the aid was always at high risk of diversion. In all likelihood, the Biden-Harris administration has prolonged the Gaza war, allowed aid to flow to Israel\u2019s enemies, and misused taxpayer funds.\n\nOn September 30, your agency announced approximately $336 million in additional humanitarian funding for Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. On the same day, the United Nations acknowledged that Fateh al-Sharif, a Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in an Israeli airstrike, was employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. UNRWA, a major USAID partner before October 7, remains a chief conduit for UN humanitarian assistance in Gaza despite extensive evidence of its ties to Hamas.\n\nWhile Congress cut off funding to UNRWA earlier this year, USAID continues to work with UN agencies and other local partners in Gaza despite documented concerns about inadequate vetting and possible terrorist ties. In July, the USAID Inspector General identified multiple \u201cshortcomings and vulnerabilities in its overnight mechanisms\u201d for Gaza aid, such as inadequate vetting of local partners, reliance on self-reporting of terrorist ties from partners, reliance on inadequate vetting by UN partners, and challenges with third-party monitoring.\n\nThese flawed \u201coversight mechanisms\u201d are the very procedures that led USAID to ignore or tolerate UNRWA employees who belonged to Hamas. As nothing has changed, how should the Congress trust that any aid sent to Gaza will not end up in the hands of Hamas?\n\nWhen American aid flows to Israel\u2019s enemies\u2014who are also our enemies\u2014USAID is guilty of moral failure, strategic catastrophe, and betrayal of the American taxpayer. You should immediately suspend all aid until taking credible and serious steps to stop Americans\u2019 tax dollars from funding terrorists.\n\nSincerely,\n\nTom Cotton\n\nU.S. Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-power-stop-americans-tax-dollars-from-funding-terrorists"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5968377701938152, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}