Billions of taxpayer dollars go towards a woke welfare scheme every year.

Taxpayers are unwittingly funding the leftist assault on American values

Every year, the U.S. federal government awards hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and contracts to various entities. While much of this funding is noncontroversial, some of it is funneled to organizations that engage in or advocate leftist political activism. This ecosystem of government funding for leftist groups has gone largely unnoticed, but the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life has created the Federal Progressive Subsidy Database to track federal “subsidies” for leftist political activism.

$6 Billion Since 2016

At the time of this writing, our database contained 2,618 entries chronicling more than $6 billion in federal subsidies to leftists since 2016. While this amount may seem small compared to the total federal budget, it is enough to dramatically affect the nonprofit world. It is also likely just a small fraction of the real money that goes to leftist groups, much of which is laundered through respectable, seemingly nonpartisan foundations or programs, but which is often difficult to trace to its government source.

• Affirmative action programs
• LGBT advocacy groups
• “Culturally responsive” education
• “Social-emotional learning”
• Critical race theory (CRT)
• Efforts to remake libraries and other facilities to be “antiracist”
• Sex-positive sex education
• DEI initiatives (including expensive “diversity consultants”)

It goes without saying that we found virtually no evidence of payments to right-wing groups. Our new tool gives Congress the necessary information to end subsidies to leftist activism. Every Republican, whether a “deficit hawk” or anti-wokeness warrior, should be eager to do so.

Immigration Is the Largest Category

Funding to immigration-related organizations represents by far the biggest category in our database. The never-ending Biden border crisis has facilitated an environment in which leftist nonprofits involve themselves in every aspect of the immigration process. Federal money should not prop up activist organizations, most of which subsist heavily on federal aid, intent on loosening or subverting our immigration laws. Such funding slows deportation, eases the migration process, and communicates to the world that illegal immigrants will receive help and will not be sent home.

Funding Sex Ed

Sex education is another persistent racket. Groups engaged in so-called “pregnancy prevention” advocate for abortion, promote libertine sexual ethics, and espouse LGBT ideology. Our database is full of examples like this. Instead of subsidizing people to break our laws, we should spend that money enforcing them. For all remaining tasks, Congress should divert resources to organizations that support the American way of life. If none exist, conservatives should consider building alternative organizations to solicit federal grants.

These reforms all involve Congress asserting oversight and control over federal agencies that have long enjoyed enormous leeway in allocating government funding. For too long, American taxpayers have underwritten a vast network of activists dedicated to overturning American values and destroying our way of life. It is our hope that by shining a light on how our government subsidizes our political enemies, the right can engage in practical steps to turn off the funding spigots and win back our culture.

Written by Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, and Douglas Walker, a research associate at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. Follow Jeremy on Twitter at @jeremycarl4.