_WHAT’S HAPPENING_

Elon Musk and members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appeared on Fox News last Friday to share additional findings from their federal audit and outline new plans to cut government spending. Musk stated that the team aims to reduce the federal deficit by $1 trillion within 130 days.

DOGE has already implemented mass layoffs and overseen the closure of several agencies, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The interview marked DOGE’s first major media appearance since its formation under the second Trump administration and highlighted notable instances of government waste, fraud, and abuse the team is working to address.

_THE FACTS_

  • Musk revealed that the federal government spent nearly $1 billion on an online national parks survey that produced no measurable results.

  • He also discussed how more than 15 million Social Security numbers belonging to people over the age of 120 are still listed as active.

  • Federal agencies still control 4.6 million government credit cards, almost double the number of federal employees. Musk said, “There should not be more credit cards than there are people,” noting that they have eliminated 300,000 cards so far.

  • DOGE highlighted that federal retirement records are stored in a cave containing 22,000 filing cabinets, causing delays of six to nine months in processing.

  • Musk and DOGE employee Brad Smith noted that the National Institutes of Health uses over 700 separate, unintegrated IT systems, managed by 27 different chief information officers.

  • The Department of Health and Human Services operates approximately 40 different communications offices.

  • The IRS employs 1,400 staff to distribute laptops and phones to new hires — supposedly a major redundancy.

  • $300 million in federal loans have been issued to individuals under age 11 and another $300 million to those over age 120 — both likely instances of fraud.

  • DOGE so far has laid off more than 113,000 federal workers and closed several federal offices.

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Chris Carbott1 year ago

Elon and his DOGE team are doing what Congress is supposed to do (oversight), but isn't, and are dismantling the gravy train that the hacks and crooks have benefited from for decades. They deserve not only our thanks and support, but also our defense of them against the Leftists and their media lapdogs. They are spreading lies and disinformation about them to foment the kind of violence and protests in the streets we see from the lunatics and low information types. We either stand up and fight NOW, or roll over and die.

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Jim Harmon1 year ago

These problems are indicative of gross negligence over a long period of time. It just shows how untethered agencies are without any oversight. If you lay these things out in a graph, each is a stovepipe with its own independent mismanagement. I don't think the President has enough time to create that much reform. If the GOP can retain the presidency and congress, they may make a dent in fixing decades of untenable mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. Rather than trying to determine why things got that bad, focus on establishing new paradigms across the board and create effective management programs going forward.

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sharon smith1 year ago

We were looking for this to be accomplished during his first term... DRAIN THE SWAMP, but figured Trump would start taking out the key players in the daily call for his impeachment, but the current action is much more effective. It's taking out the superstructure that supports those players. It won't be long before we see them crash and burn. It has already begun, with the help of Bondi, Hegseth, Kennedy and the team of Musk. My whole family is feeling good about this. It is providing a sense of security we haven't felt for many years.

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Monty Mickle1 year ago

Kudos to DOGE, Musk and president Trump for taking on the national debt, and shame on critics in both parties who failed to address this looming disaster

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Rich Henke1 year ago

All of this waste fraud and abuse can easily be eliminated… once the country goes bankrupt and financial collapse follows. Then there will be nothing left for Democrats and other fraudsters to steal.

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Alc Cookeville1 year ago

One of the most crippling problems the agencies have is obsolete software on terribly obsolete mainframes which cannot scale nor communicate. Current (2010) available computers have 64 bit operating systems with 384 GB internal memory, in a local network of dozens of such, communicating at more than 1 GB/sec, using Linux. - a free and secure operating system. (Location GE-HITACHI NUCLEAR, for mechanical engeneering analyses) Priority should be to get such systems to the agencies with the programmers to re-write the agencies' key programs and to translate the datasets into modern databases. And set up secure redundant communications.

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Coty Amen1 year ago

Correct me if I am wrong but hasn’t this been done before from past presidents administration? If this is the case, then DOGE is nothing new. I am unable to find the article, not from Upward News, of which a past presidential administration used a kind of “DOGE” to cut government waste.

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claude chase1 year ago

You're talking about Obama who set up the dept. that Trump put Elon in charge of and re-named DOGE, however Obama used it to gaslight the general public into believing he was going to cut waste when he actually channeled more waste into helping push us into the situation we are now finding out about: "Tax payor money to support Socialist Democrats and the undermining of the American way of life !

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Bonnie Hissom1 year ago

All good news. Cannot understand why anyone would be against cleaning out waste of their tax dollars. This had been going on for decades. Of course it’s painful. It’s been ignored too long. My prayers are with those working so hard to clean up an almost insurmountable pile of waste, but I have confidence in the DOGE team. Praying for their safety.

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Michele Shockley1 year ago

A lot has been said about the underground storage of federal retirement records. As digital records can be manipulated, I wonder if hardcopy security is the true objective. The records are even protected from the elements kind of like the Dead Sea scrolls.