A group of protesters on Thursday were removed from a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing on United States Agency for International Development (USAID) spending, after chanting for the government to bring back funding for AIDS relief. 

USAID has come under heavy Republican scrutiny recently after it reportedly spent a massive amount of money on controversial uses like drag shows in the Middle East and Europe, and condoms.

The protesters were calling for President Donald Trump to "restore" funding for PEPFAR, which is a global AIDS relief program that was established under former President George W. Bush. But the program was already given a waiver by the Trump administration to continue operating, despite the wider freeze.

"PEPFAR saves lives. Restore AIDS funding now," the protesters chanted, per Fox News.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast joked that the protesters appeared out of the loop because of the waiver.

"I guess these guys don't watch the news. They didn't realize that PEPFAR was one of the many programs that did prove to be life-saving so the funding was restored," Mast said. "Somebody better give them a link to, I don't know, maybe Fox News or something like that."

The protest comes after the Trump administration aimed to drastically reduce USAID's workforce, and placed thousands of employees on administrative leave. The leave order has since been challenged in court. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.