Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is vowing to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government funding to “ice skating drag queens.”
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday ahead of the release of his annual Festivus report, Paul said he has already sent “2000 pages” highlighting what he considers to be wasteful government spending to DOGE and gave a preview.
“We will talk about electric charging stations, electric cars, but we’ll also be talking about government funding for ice skating drag queens. We’ll be talking about taxpayer funded magic,” he said in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
Paul told an outraged Hannity that he does not know the exact amount the government is spending on the ice skating drag queens, but “the total will be in the hundreds of billions for the entire Festivus report.”
He continued: “I can tell you that there are millions of dollars being spent on magic. I can tell you that. Also going to be some money for the southern border, but not the southern border of the United States, for the southern border of Paraguay.”
Though it is unclear what exactly Paul is talking about, much of the spending highlighted in his reports is through grants from the federal government.
In 2022, the State Department awarded $20,600 to Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano (CEN), a non-profit supported by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, to “host 3 workshops, 12 drag theater performances, and produce a 2 minute documentary.”
The grant was to allow members of the LGBTQ+ community in Ecuador an outlet “to express themselves freely and safely.” The grant ended on August 31, 2023.
