Indian-origin US Republican Party leader Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday (December 1), slammed a deal in which New York authorities paid USD 220 million rent to Pakistan for a hotel it owns in the city. The former contender for Republican Party's presidential nomination said that the payment meant that US was "effectively paying a foreign government to house illegals".
Ramaswamy took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express his anger. He was quoting a post by author John LeFevre which said that the payment to Pakistan was part of USD 1.1 billion bailout from International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Pakistan to prevent the country from defaulting on its international debt.
The Roosevelt Hotel is owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the national carrier of Pakistan. The government leased the hotel to New York City in an agreement a Pakistani minister said was signed between Pakistan and New York city.
Vivek Ramaswamy is co-chair of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The department is being established by US President-elect Donald Trump. The department is being tasked with cutting government expenditure deemed 'excessive'. At the time of Ramaswamy and Musk's appointment, Trump said that DOGE's work would send 'shockwaves through the system'.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the "Save America" Movement. This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!," Trump said in his annoncement.
