Foreign Affairs

‘America Last’: GOP Sens Slam Biden For Sending Africa $1 Billion As Hurricane-Ravaged Regions Struggle

(Screen Capture/CSPAN)

Several GOP senators slammed President Joe Biden for sending $1 billion for humanitarian aid to Africa while Americans are still recovering from recent devastating hurricanes.

During a trip to Angola, Biden announced Tuesday that the U.S. will be sending $1 billion to Africa to fund humanitarian initiatives helping Africans displaced by droughts and food insecurity, drawing the ire of Republican senators who believe strongly that the federal government should be spending to help Americans like those in North Carolina and Florida whose lives were upended by Hurricanes Milton and Helene this autumn.

“The Biden administration continues to put America last on the world stage. The American people are sick and tired of having their tax dollars sent overseas when we have disasters to clean up at home,” Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is why President Trump won in a landslide on November 5th. I look forward to President Trump putting America FIRST again in January.”

“President Biden is spending his last days in office putting America behind the rest of the world,” Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “Americans are still suffering from recent natural disasters, FEMA employees were proven to have discriminated against families because of their politics, and President Biden celebrates sending a billion dollars overseas—business as usual for his administration. January 20th can’t come soon enough.”

CBS Evening News ran a Tuesday segment explaining how hundreds of Americans residing in western North Carolina are still living in tents, recreational vehicles and shelters as the cold winter months approach while they continue to pick up the pieces after Helene devastated their communities. The $1 billion announced Tuesday by Biden will “assist countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, to respond to humanitarian crises including displacement and El Nino-induced drought,” according to the White House.

The Biden administration also drew considerable scrutiny after The Daily Wire reported on Nov. 8 that a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor instructed subordinates to avoid homes outwardly displaying support for President-elect Donald Trump as they surveyed damage from Hurricane Milton in Florida. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were also criticized for being absent from the White House as Hurricane Helene unfolded and left a trail of destruction across the southeast.

Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott also ripped the administration for sending $1 billion more abroad as Americans are struggling in the wake of natural disasters at home.

“Is Biden serious? Families in Florida and across our nation are waiting for disaster relief after their livelihoods were destroyed from hurricanes, but Biden flees to Africa and hands out tax dollars like candy,” Scott wrote in a Tuesday post to X, formerly known as Twitter. “We need President Trump and his America first priorities in office ASAP.”

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.