Jason Smith: Rooting out waste, abuse and fraud

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

Ever since President Donald Trump took office, he’s worked around the clock to cut wasteful spending and right-size the federal government. 

One of the most important tools he has in this fight is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This agency, which was created by President Trump, is doing a great job exposing the federal government’s lack of transparency and endless appetite for wasting your hard-earned tax dollars.

That’s especially true when it comes to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). DOGE has exposed how this government agency has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on ridiculous things like putting on drag shows in Ecuador, pushing atheism in Nepal, teaching illegal immigrants how to circumvent U.S. immigration law, giving condoms to the Taliban, and spreading LGBTQ awareness across the world. I strongly support the president’s efforts to ensure USAID will no longer be able to waste taxpayer money to advance the Left’s radical agenda.

Thanks to DOGE, we also learned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is spending millions of dollars on things that have nothing to do with helping communities recover after a major disaster. According to Elon Musk, who is assisting DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts, FEMA spent $59 million to house illegal immigrants in luxury New York City hotels. Thankfully, Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem – who has jurisdiction over FEMA – is fighting tooth and nail to significantly overhaul this federal agency.

Unsurprisingly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been a major target of DOGE’s efforts to right-size the federal government and protect Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. Together, DOGE and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are working tirelessly to rein in this federal agency. 

Zeldin canceled a $50 million “environmental justice grant” for an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.” Zeldin followed up by canceling nine government contracts related to DEI and so-called environmental justice, resulting in nearly $60 million in taxpayer savings. I’m glad we now have an EPA director who is committed to reforming this out-of-control federal agency.

The Department of Education is another federal agency that is rightly being exposed for wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. This month, the Education Department canceled over $600 million in grants to institutions and nonprofits that were wasting taxpayer dollars to train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies, including critical race theory and DEI training. 

The agency also set strict rules aimed at stopping COVID-relief funding from being used by school boards on ridiculous things like spending $86,000 on hotel rooms in Las Vegas, $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball Stadium, and $60,000 to purchase pool passes. It’s only been a few weeks, but DOGE is off to a great start. 

According to DOGE, it has saved taxpayers $55 billion. But that’s not all it has accomplished. It has also shined a bright light on just how bloated and inefficient the federal government has become. It’s no secret why Washington Democrats strongly oppose DOGE: it threatens to undo their decades-long efforts to expand government command and control over Americans.