By: Rita Cook
ELLIS COUNTY – The loudest dissent is the one that is heard and some Republicans in Ellis County were loud last week showing their displeasure at the 6th Congressional District of Texas’ US Representative Jake Ellzey.
Ellzey serves Ellis, Dallas, Tarrant, Navarro, and Johnson counties.
Ellzey voted “no” along with 81 other Republican House members to NOT defund $315 million to the private, non-profit foundation, National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
A vast majority of that $315 million funding – roughly 95% – is taken from an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress, meaning it comes from taxpayer money.
The vote was held on Jan. 14 with the defunding of NED failing 127-291.
Some Republicans have called NED a left-wing globalist group.
NED provides over 1,900 grants annually to NGOs (non-governmental agencies) in more than 90 countries. A look at the grants https://www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/FINAL-Active-Grant-Listing-7-15-For-Listing-1.pdf indicate much money goes to promote media in those countries as well as a look at democracy.
Funding is said to be determined by an independent, and bipartisan Board of Directors, “not the government,” but the Chairman of NED is Former U.S. Representative Peter Roskam. NED’s President & CEO is Damon Wilson formerly with the Atlantic Council and the U.S. National Security Council. Other members include two former National Security Advisors, Former Deputy and Assistant Secretary of States, two current and one former U.S. House Representative, a former Chief of Staff, a U.S. Ambassador to the UN and a former U.S. Senator.
Voters in Ellzey’s district showed their displeasure at his vote to fund the $315 million and one posted she had stopped paying attention because his voting does not align with her since he votes to send billions to Ukraine and, surprisingly, the once military pilot voted against rehiring pilots who had refused to take the COVID vaccine. It was in 2023 that Ellzey was one of only seven Texas Republicans who voted against an amendment aimed at rehiring airline pilots who were fired for refusing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
