THE DAILY WIRE | Published November 17, 2024
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have their work cut out for them.
The pair is heading up the meme-worthy Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), part of President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to slash the federal bureaucracy and runaway spending.
Both entrepreneurs have said they’ll take an aggressive approach with the project, and there is no shortage of places they could start.
The government spends $6.75 trillion a year. Already this year, federal spending has increased by $114 billion. Within that massive amount is a seemingly never-ending list of eyebrow-raising expenditures.
Around $900 billion in wasted taxpayer dollars were counted last year in Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) “Festivus Report,” his annual tally of government waste that highlights glaring and often humorous examples.
Among the bigger expenses, in fiscal year 2023, the Treasury spent $659 billion on just the interest on the national debt, much of that borrowed from China, the report noted.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) spent $200 million on pandemic support to “small business” artists that ended up including big names like Usher, Nickelback, Post Malone, Chris Brown, Smashing Pumpkins, and Lil Wayne, the report said.
Also, fraudsters used the faces of Barbie dolls as profile pictures to apply for the SBA’s pandemic Paycheck Protection Program, and the program “carelessly approved” the fraudsters and sent them money, the report said.
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SOURCE: www.dailywire.com
RELATED: From transgender monkeys to cheques to deceased: Where DOGE team could start cutting federal spending
THE TIMES OF INDIA | Published November 14, 2024
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aiming to reduce the federal government’s $6.75 trillion in spending. The team will work outside of government to reduce bureaucracy, eliminate unnecessary regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies, according to Trump’s statement.
The head of watchdog group Open the Books, John Hart, praised the initiative, noting, “This will end wasteful spending on autopilot.” Here’s a look at some spending areas the team may tackle:
Payments to the deceased
In 2023, $1.3 billion in federal benefits was paid to deceased individuals, according to RealClear Investigations. Hart suggests cross-checking with the Treasury Department’s “do-not-pay” list to curb these errors.
Prisoner payouts
In 2023, $171 million went to prisoners claiming unemployment or Social Security benefits. Medicaid and Medicare also suffered $101 billion in improper payments, largely due to fraud.
Research on cats in Russia
In 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted $549,000 to a Russian lab conducting brain surgery on cats to study their ability to walk on treadmills, according to the Washington Times.
Biden’s Ireland trip
Taxpayers paid $4 million for President Biden’s trip to Ireland, including $1.2 million for audio-visual setup for a speech and $760,000 to rent a Dublin hotel, according to The Post.
Monkeys and gambling studies
The National Institutes of Health allocated $33 million to an organisation operating “Monkey Island,” which houses approximately 3,000 primates destined for laboratory research. The NIH also distributed additional funds, including $3.7 million for research examining gambling behaviour in monkeys. Furthermore, the University of Mississippi received a portion of $12 million for conducting methamphetamine tests on primates, whilst a Florida laboratory was granted $477,000 to investigate hormonal changes in male monkeys injected with female hormones, termed as “transgender” monkeys.
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