Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) credited the Department of Government Efficiency for uncovering the spending at the U.S. Agency for International Development that she “spent years” investigating.

Ernst is the founder and chairwoman of the Senate DOGE caucus. Long before Elon Musk became DOGE head, Ernst had a “Make ‘Em Squeal” campaign, which had a mission to “cut wasteful spending,” according to her website. The senator appeared on Fox News’s The Faulkner Focus on Thursday to thank Musk for his work to “make sure that their taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and furthering American interests.”

“I have spent years trying to uncover the spending in USAID, and they obstructed my efforts. So much so that we had to start a formal congressional investigation on USAID. I have been engaged in my squeal efforts for a decade now uncovering waste in our federal government,” Ernst said.

“So things like humanitarian aid, when you asked USAID, it equated to sending Ukrainians to Paris Fashion Week. I’m sorry, that’s not humanitarian aid. It did not benefit the people of Ukraine. So there are a lot of things that we have spent hard-earned taxpayer dollars on that really don’t amount to American interests. And so we’ve got to rein that back in,” Ernst continued.

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Ernst’s comments came as Musk shut down USAID’s headquarters last week. They will remain closed until further notice. Hundreds of federal workers received word to stay home, stoking fears of what agencies are facing shutdowns.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting USAID administrator, explained he is working to configure how to “absorb certain bureaus, offices, and missions” of the agency into the State Department and other branches.