DOGE Outlines Second Phase Of Cuts

_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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