Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are tasked with cutting $6.75 trillion in spending in 2024 under the federal government’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to a statement from President-elect Donald Trump, the group will work outside the government to “dismantle the bureaucracy, reduce excessive regulation, reduce wasteful spending, and reorganize federal agencies.” John Hurt, CEO of fiscal waste watchdog Open the Books, told the Post that he wanted to curb “spending that is happening on autopilot with no real thought or purpose behind it.” Then he spoke.
It’s not difficult to find areas to cut back on. Many alarming examples are recognized in the government’s own reports. Below are some of the first gravy trains expected to derail.
the dead turn into cash
In 2023, the federal government mailed out $1.3 billion in checks to the IRS, Medicare, and various veterans organizations for the dead, according to RealClear Investigations.
Hart says it’s easy to stop. “Treasury has a no-pay list. All these people need to be on it. But there is no cross-checking between the institutions that make the payments and Treasury,” he said.
Benefits in the bar
Prisoners who were still considered free and unemployed received $171 million in unemployment benefits and Social Security benefits in 2023. Medicaid and Medicare also made $101 billion in improper payments, largely due to fraud, and at least harmed the IRS for tax fraud. $546 million.
Russian cat research
According to the Washington Times, in 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will send a report to a Russian lab that will conduct experiments such as removing parts of cats’ brains to see if they can still walk on a treadmill. He reportedly gave her $549,000.
Biden’s Irish Thugs
As The Post reported, American taxpayers spent $4 million on Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s trip to Ireland last year. That includes $1.2 million for an elaborate sound system and light show for Biden’s speech and $760,000 to rent out an entire hotel in Dublin.
$50 million monkey business
The NIH spending includes $33 million to a company that operates Monkey Island, a colony of about 3,000 primates sent to the institute. Additionally, a total of $3.7 million in NIH grants funded research on monkeys and gambling. Another $12 million went to the University of Mississippi to administer methamphetamine to monkeys, and a Florida lab received $477,000 to fund research on “transgender” monkeys (males injected with female hormones). received the dollar.
Still paying the price for the pandemic
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the spending hasn’t stopped, with FEMA expecting to spend an additional $70 billion on the pandemic by August 2026. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci received $15 million worth of security details this year, even though he is retired. . “He basically has a limousine driver and an armed security guard,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told the Post. “Presidents will figure it out for a while, but they’re the only ones in our country who get it.”
drag show in ecuador
The State Department awarded the Ecuadorian center a $20,600 grant in 2022, according to the USAspending.gov tracker. The grant money was used for “12 drag theater performances” and a “two-minute documentary,” Fox News reported.
empty federal building
Federal agencies use an average of 12% of their corporate headquarters space, according to a March report from the Public Building Reform Commission. The General Services Administration spends $2 billion a year maintaining government-owned offices and $5 billion a year leasing space.
DEI is all the rage
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired 294 employees to oversee diversity equity and inclusion at a cost of $38.7 million, Open the Books reported.
Distribution to China
The State Department gave nearly $58.7 million to China from 2017 to 2022, according to Open the Books. Nearly $100,000 of that was used to promote “gender equality” through the use of New Yorker magazine cartoons.
Arming the EPA
Critics say the Environmental Protection Agency spent $620,000 on guns and ammunition, including bulletproof armor, night vision equipment and military-grade weapons, none of which were needed. That’s what it means.
IRS tax dodger
Even those who work at the IRS don’t lead by example. From October 2021 to October 2023, IRS employees owed $50 million in unpaid taxes. However, only 20 employees were fired for reporting. “If IRS employees can’t figure out how to pay their taxes, what’s the rest of us supposed to do?” Hart said.
obscure research
The National Endowment for the Humanities spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on unknown research. January 2024 grants alone awarded more than $350,000 for research and book writing on: History of Muslim-Chinese encounters in Asia from the 1360s to the 1640s. The history and sociological impact of liver disease in Egypt and the nature of imprisonment in England from 1550 to 1800.
Total waste: $386 billion
