While the Trump administration and DOGE is exposing wasteful spending from USAID, attention is shifting to wasteful and partisan spending by other federal agencies. Several agencies gave large grants to recipients in Arizona for partisan progressive purposes. Some of these were authorized by Congressional bills, however, so will be difficult for Trump’s executive branch to cut.
The Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation awarded $35 million in 2023 to the University of Arizona for expanding markets for climate-smart natural rubber from guayule. The subsidies have come under attack from Republicans in Congress. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01) objected to the grant program last year, “[N]o one natural resource concern should be prioritized over others, considering all the benefits and good work these programs presently support.” Producing rubber alone is not economically viable, and “other useful compounds drawn from guayule were either less or showed uneven results,” the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service found.
Billion-Dollar Boondoggle: Taxpayer Cash Funds Far-Left Arizona Projects
