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McCaul says tax dollars spent on Gaza pier ‘wasted in irresponsible way’

The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized blasted the Biden administration for the “boondoggle.”

Temporary Gaza Pier
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (expeditionary) use a rope to stabilize humanitarian aid while it is lifted by a crane aboard the “MV Roy P. Benavidez” to support the Joint Logistics Over-the-shore (JLOTS) operation, in the Port of Ashdod, Israel, on May 13, 2024. Credit: Staff Sgt. Malcolm Cohens-Ashley/U.S. Army.

A report by the Office of Inspector General into the failed efforts to use a mobile pier to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians fleeing Gaza’s war zones has inspired condemnation from a House leader.

“USAID OIG’s evaluation of the Biden-Harris administration’s $230 million pier boondoggle for Gaza aid is both shocking and damning,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He said that “in pursuing this resource-intensive failure, the administration repeatedly disregarded the advice of its own subject matter experts” and that “it is no surprise to see that the project fell far, far short of its goals in delivering aid.”

Announcing his plans to discuss the findings with OIG in the coming days, McCaul said that he sought “to get a better understanding of how American taxpayer money was wasted in such a ridiculous and irresponsible way.”

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