America's Talking - DOGE Says It Has Saved Taxpayers $55 Billion So Far

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

(The Center Square) – The month-old Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk has saved American taxpayers $55 billion, according to the latest update from the group. Its ‘Wall of Receipts’ on its new website catalogues where the department has made cuts and how much those cuts are worth. The biggest line item on ‘the wall’ is one from the Department of Homeland Security for $8 billion. The U.S. Agency for International Development appears the most in DOGE’s records and so far, shows more than $6.5 billion slashed from its budget, according to the site, though it is still being updated. USAID and the Department of Education top DOGE's list for 'total contract savings' for government agencies. The DHS is sixth. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_3af14946-ee3c-11ef-975d-537cdefa30fb.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. The Department of Government Efficiency continues to steamroll through federal budgets, cutting what it identifies as wasteful use of taxpayer dollars. Doge announced this week that in just one month of its existence, it has saved American taxpayers $55 billion, some of which could be returned to. to taxpayers in the final checks. Democrats warn that such drastic cuts will have consequences.

Joining me to discuss this is Casey Harper, Washington, D.C. Bureau chief for the Center Square. Casey, at Thursday's White House press briefing, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, said the Trump administration is considering sending 20% of the Doge savings back to taxpayers. Tell us more. Yeah, that's exactly right. I drew some headlines with that and even more interest to the already infamous Doge effort to cut federal spending. I mean, there's a lot to be said here, Dan. I don't know if you hear that sound here outside of D.C., you can hear the distant screaming of federal bureaucrats.

I think I should make that out. Yeah, I hear it all 24-7. It's like banshee's in the distance. But, you know, I think Democrats are in a difficult spot here because on the one hand, you know, when they're defending U.S. aid and other policies, they say, oh, it's only one percent of the federal budget. Why are we cutting federal aid? It's only one percent of the federal budget. But then the next day, they turn around and they say these cuts are so drastic and so draconian that they're going to just, you know, they're going to cause all these issues. And so, you know, which is it? Are these cuts so insignificant that we shouldn't waste time on them? Or are they so draconian and drastic that they're going to you know, just in life as we know it. And so I think there's a lot of like rhetorical games going on

here. Overall, Doge's, you know, cutting in as far as in dollar amounts, there's a lot of money being cut. But as far as percentage of the budget, it is still pretty small. They're talking about sending the money to taxpayers about 20%. That could be, you know, 1,000, 5,000. It just depends on how high the number gets. I don't think anyone should expect that number, you know, that check is not coming next week. So it could come. I think it's very possible. I think there's probably some appetite among Republicans to do that, maybe even in an election year. But I don't think that that's not so imminent. That's kind of more of a long-term thing. Doge has until July 4th of next year to really put forward their big picture spending cuts plan. And so it's possible they could wait

until they submit that plan once they have the big round number of cuts that they're hoping for. I mean, Trump has said hundreds of billions. You know, Musk has said almost up to $2 trillion. You're not going to, you're going to have to do some pretty drastic cuts to get the $2 trillion. But so anyway, so I wouldn't expect that check in the mail next week, but it is pretty interesting. The cuts are making a difference. And it's putting Democrats in a tough spot because they seem unwilling to just admit that many of these cuts are necessary. And so soon they might be on the side of we don't support cutting waste and sending money to the American people.

And just mark my words, Dan. They're going to say that these checks cause an increase in inflation. That's coming. So that's my prediction of the day. Casey, the U.S. national debt is more than $36 trillion. Government watchdogs have been warning for years and years that spending is on an unsustainable path. Miller also said yesterday's White House press briefing that 20% could be returned. to taxpayer, 20% of the doge savings could be returned to taxpayers.

20% could be used to pay off U.S. debt. We're still in budget deficits. I think under the last Biden administration the last fiscal year, we were deficit spending by $2 trillion. Why wouldn't 100% of these doge savings go to pay down the U.S. debt? It's politics, Dan. You know, you want to get the money back into the hands of the American people. It's a political win.

it's drawing attention. Trump is supposed to be the populist president for the people, regardless of what Republicans or Democrats think about it. I mean, that's how he's really made his brand. And so the Democrats are going to say these cuts are too intense. Republicans are going to say, well, who knows, Republicans are in total disarray at this point. They are a party of Trump or they have no identity. But, you know, a traditional Republican might say we need to just, you know, do the smart,

responsible thing and not send out these checks. A Republican of 20 years ago would not send out the check. they would be too afraid of some, you know, article on CNN that would say that the checks would write, you know, cause an increase in inflation. But Trump's going to send it out to the people. And it's probably a good idea. It's probably going to help more Republicans get reelected for them. And they can keep, you know, going forward with the agenda. I mean, this are going to be, you know, a few thousand dollars per people. And it's the people's money. And I think long term, it probably will help the cuts go further forward because the only thing keeping Doja alive is the will

of the people. There's plenty of Democrats and Republicans actually who do not like Doge. They want to put it to a stop. They don't like the cuts. They don't like how the president has taken such a proactive role in cutting spending when, you know, really spending his Congress's job, but they've done such a poor job of it that the president is kind of exposing them for how weak they've become. They've delegated all their authority to these federal bureaucracies, which don't listen to them anymore. They don't respond to oversight. The Congress has become the weakest branch of government because they've created the bureaucracy. And Trump's exposing that. And so I think a lot of these lawmakers are embarrassed. You can say the money should go to the debt, but honestly, this right now,

the money's still negligible. You're probably not going to pay down the debt with the actual funds. The thing that's going to pay down the debt is the long-term structural changes. And that's what we're still looking for, Dan, is Doe's just kind of a gimmick that cuts a little bit for, you know, a year or two? or are they going to be able to do long-term structural changes that get the deficit down? Because like you said, it's been around $2 trillion. Before COVID, it never got over $1 trillion. Now it's been averaging $2 trillion. If they can get the deficit down, honestly, Dan, they don't even have to pay off the debt.

If they just get the deficit down to zero and keep it there, that will pretty much solve most of our problems. In the few seconds we have left, Casey, and other Doge News this week, a federal judge ruled against a coalition of blue states seeking a temporary. a restraining order to end these doge-related cuts. I'll just briefly tell our readers about that. Yeah, so basically these states sued and said, hey, Elon Musk can't do this. It's going to hurt our states. So we need an emergency immediate restraining order. And the judge said, no, you're not getting that. But I was reading through the ruling. And there are some things in here that Musk and Trump should be worried about because the judge seemed to suggest that even though they're not going to receive an immediate order, that there's a lot of things Musk is doing, that there's a lot of things Musk is doing,

this judge says could be unconstitutional. And so I would not be surprised if there does end up be an order stopping Musk that gets appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Thank you for joining us today, Casey. Listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com.