The Department of Efficiency (DOGE), acting on directives from Elon Musk, has annulled over 500,000 unused government-issued credit cards and has indicated that more will follow.
This initiative, aimed at reducing fraud and cutting federal expenditures, marks the start of a substantial and efficient campaign impacting more than 30 federal agencies, aligning with President Donald Trump’s commitments to eliminate waste in taxpayer spending.
According to reports, DOGE has issued hundreds of thousands of credit cards associated with various federal agencies.
Currently, the US government manages around 4.6 million “active credit cards/accounts,” spending a staggering $39.7 billion on transactions over $90 million last year.
The General Services Administration (GSA) SmartPay credit system has seen a considerable increase in the total amounts on these cards, along with a significant rise in the number of transactions in recent years, as indicated by a statistics report.
The total expenditure for 2022 reached $32.8 billion, reflecting an increase of nearly $7 billion in just two years.
In 2022, these expenses were recorded over approximately 78.5 million transactions, compared to over 90 million in 2024.
All of this will be scrutinized as DOGE broadens its operations and enhances its activities within Washington, DC.
