Examples of government waste, inefficiency as Trump announces DOGE

(NewsNation) — Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy volition pb President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural Department of Government Efficiency, oregon DOGE, to chopped national spending and "wasteful expenditures."

NewsNation compiled a database of existing wasteful and inefficient authorities spending examples.

Congressional backing for expired programs

The Congressional Budget Office precocious recovered that Congress provided $516 cardinal successful appropriations this fiscal twelvemonth to programs that had expired nether national law.

The funds were associated with astir 500 expired authorizations, according to the CBO's July report.

"Nearly two-thirds ($320 billion) of that $516 cardinal was provided for activities whose authorizations expired much than a decennary ago," the study said.

According to CBO's estimates, astir fractional of the authorized appropriations successful the study expired astatine slightest 10 years ago, and the oldest expired successful 1980.

In 2023, the magnitude of backing for expired authorizations was $519 billion.

Payment errors

The national authorities made $247 cardinal worthy of outgo errors successful fiscal twelvemonth 2022 and $236 cardinal in 2023, according to the Government Accountability Office.

These errors, besides known arsenic improper payments, see overpayments oregon payments that should not person been made, specified arsenic to idiosyncratic who died oregon idiosyncratic nary longer eligible for authorities programs.

Estimates amusement the national authorities spent $2.7 trillion successful outgo errors since 2003.

In 2022, the bulk of improper payments spanned crossed 82 programs, a bulk coming from Medicaid ($81 billion) and Medicare ($47 billion).

"Improper payments and fraud are long-standing and important problems successful the national government," said House grounds from GAO successful September.

Maintaining bare buildings

Federal authorities agencies are utilizing conscionable 12% of the abstraction successful their office buildings connected average, according to the Public Buildings Reform Board, which is an autarkic national bureau focused connected recommending the disposal of underutilized national properties.

"Even earlier the pandemic, of the national properties analyzed, national occupancy was low, peculiarly successful Washington D.C.," the board's report to Congress successful March said.

These spaces indispensable beryllium furnished, which besides costs money.

The House Oversight Committee spent $3.3 cardinal connected furnishings implicit the past fewer years.

Apparently, to furnish bureau spaces near mostly bare nether maximum telework. Some agencies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars connected updating bare league rooms

"Hundreds of millions of dollars of payer funds are spent annually conscionable to support government-owned properties that should beryllium sold off," said Chairman Rep. James Comer of the House Oversight Committee successful a hearing past year. "A cardinal dollars oregon much could beryllium saved annually by terminating unneeded national bureau abstraction leases. Unused national abstraction was an contented anterior to the pandemic — national spot absorption has agelong been connected GAO’s High-Risk List — but it’s present go 1 that is simply excessively large — and excessively costly — to ignore.”

Producing pennies

A penny whitethorn outgo 1 cent for radical utilizing it to wage for goods and services, but it costs triple that for the authorities to nutrient it.

For 19 years, the outgo of producing pennies has surpassed the worth of the coin.

The aforesaid is existent for nickels. Though valued astatine 5 cents, a nickel costs 11.5 cents for the authorities to nutrient one.

Producing these 2 coins past twelvemonth outgo the U.S. Mint $179 million.

Federal bureau recommendations

The Government Accountability Office reports much than 5,300 unfastened recommendations for national agencies to marque the authorities enactment better. In July, GAO estimated taxpayers could prevention betwixt $106 cardinal and $208 cardinal if the recommendations were implemented.

NewsNation's Steven Joachim contributed to this report.