have<\/a> a Democratic trifecta: Democrats control the state House, Senate, and governorship. Furthermore, these states have a Democratic trifecta, with party control of the Attorney General, Secretary of State, and governorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is another incredible discovery by the DOGE team, finding nearly $400 million in fraudulent unemployment payments. The Labor Department is committed to recovering Americans\u2019 stolen tax dollars. We will catch these thieves and keep working to root out egregious fraud,\u201d Labor Department Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said, per Fox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk is preparing to step down from his special assignment as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, but he took time this week to reveal the five most outrageous things his team has found in an interview with Fox News\u2019 Jesse Watters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Trump signed an executive order creating DOGE on Inauguration Day, the agency set an ambitious target of trimming $2\u202ftrillion from the federal budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Office of Government Ethics rules, \u201cspecial government employees\u201d like Musk may serve no more than 130 days per year, meaning Musk\u2019s term will end on May\u202f30. He has already begun scaling back his hours at the agency, Fox noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as his time with DOGE comes to an end, he revealed to Watters the most egregious government waste that he and his team found in just a few short months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funding a member of the Taliban<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEarlier this year, DOGE uncovered that the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) had paid $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi\u2014a former Taliban member who served as Afghanistan\u2019s Chief of Protocol. On March 31, DOGE announced the contract\u2019s cancellation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Halimi was detained by U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base for a year starting January 2, 2002. After his release, he held various Afghan government posts and was appointed Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
School district parties in Las Vegas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEarlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that DOGE audits found schools spent $200\u202fbillion in COVID\u2011relief funds on items \u201cwith little oversight or impact on students,\u201d including Las Vegas hotel rooms and even an ice cream truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granite School District in Utah used $86,000 of its COVID\u2011relief funds on hotel rooms at Caesars Palace for an educational conference, while California\u2019s Santa Ana Unified spent $393,000 to rent a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a Parents Defending Education report shared by DOGE. Granite has since denied any impropriety in sending educators to the Las Vegas event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Government Efficiency also found that schools spent $60,000 on swimming\u2011pool passes and that one California district used relief funds to buy an ice cream truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Sesame Street\u2019 \u2026 in Iraq<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSen. Joni Ernst (R\u2011Iowa), chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, who has worked with Musk on cutting waste, revealed that USAID \u201cauthorized a whopping $20\u202fmillion to create a \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ernst said that during President Biden\u2019s administration, USAID gave $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called \u201cAhlan Simsim Iraq\u201d in an effort to \u201cpromote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Billions in \u2018improper payments\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nDOGE got a boost from a March GAO report showing federal agencies made $162\u202fbillion in improper payments\u2014a figure that, while staggering, was $74\u202fbillion lower than the prior fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAO\u2019s analysis revealed that of the 16 government agencies reporting improper payments, 75% of the waste found was concentrated in five programs at HHS, Medicare\/Medicaid, the Treasury Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DEI funding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn recent months, DOGE has announced cuts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars from DEI contracts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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