The deadly fire in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui is the fire seen round the world. The death toll is in the hundreds, with hundreds more still missing and thousands of people evacuated.
There is a lot of blame to go around. Progressives are blaming the severity of the fire on climate change. Some people are questioning why Hawaii’s network of 400 alarms—to warn residents of natural disasters—never sounded. Others have noted that about ten years ago, the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization warned the Hawaiian government that the area around Lahaina was extremely fire-prone. Hawaiian Electric, the state’s monopoly electricity provider, is facing lawsuits for not deenergizing power lines during the adverse weather conditions ahead of the fire.
President Biden has signed a disaster declaration for Hawaii. According to a White House “Fact Sheet,”
There are almost 500 Federal personnel deployed to Maui to assist residents in their greatest time of need.
The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy supported maritime search and rescue operations, and U.S. Army helicopters supported fire suppression efforts on the Big Island.
FEMA has also authorized Critical Needs Assistance (CNA), which provides a one-time payment of $700 per household to applicants who were displaced from their homes and have critical needs.
Also involved are the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fire Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Defense.
Should the federal government be providing disaster relief to Hawaii? I’m afraid not. Doing so is simply unconstitutional, and there are no exceptions for natural disasters or humanitarian crises.
President Grover Cleveland once vetoed a bill passed by Congress to provide financial assistance to farmers suffering from a drought. In his veto message, he said he opposed the bill to aid farmers because he could “find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution.”
When Congress appropriated $15,000 to assist some French refugees, Congressman (and future president) James Madison objected, saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
Congressman Davy Crockett said it best when he expressed his opposition to a congressional attempt to help the widow of a naval officer, “I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”
If it is unconstitutional for the U.S. government to provide aid to Americans, then it stands to reason that it is even more unconstitutional for the U.S. government to provide aid to foreigners or their governments.
Yet, the United States gives other countries billions of dollars in foreign aid every year. According to ForeignAssistance.gov—“the U.S. government’s flagship website for making U.S. foreign assistance data available to the public”—the foreign aid budget request for fiscal year 2023 was $53 billion for 178 countries.
Although domestic aid is clearly unconstitutional, foreign aid is even more so. I would certainly rather see American taxpayer money go to Americans than to foreigners. After all, Americans are the ones paying the taxes.
The case of Ukraine is a particularly egregious example of the government putting foreigners ahead of Americans. According to the aforementioned White House “Fact Sheet” regarding the fires in Hawaii: “FEMA has also authorized Critical Needs Assistance (CNA) which provides a onetime payment of $700 per household to applicants who were displaced from their homes and have critical needs.” Compare that to what the government has given Ukraine to fight a war it cannot win. According to a recent report by the Council of Foreign Relations, the United States has given humanitarian, financial, security, and weapons assistance to Ukraine totaling $76.8 billion. And since that report, President Biden has asked Congress for an additional $24 billion in Ukraine assistance.
Foreign aid spending is madness, especially aid to Ukraine. The United States is over $32 trillion in debt, and Lahaina has suffered the deadliest fire in U.S. history. And yet Democrats and Republicans in Congress continue to send American tax dollars overseas. Not one dime from the U.S. treasury should be given or loaned to any government, NGO, or individual in any other country. Any American who wants to help another country with disaster relief, economic development, or defense should reach into his own pocket.
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