1. United States
2. Fla.
3. Letter

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a Minority staff report today exposing massive waste tied to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). According to the findings, DOGE has squandered at least $21.7 billion in taxpayer funds between January 20 and July 18, 2025. This needs to be investigated and the money returned to the used for which it was intended. DOGE’s costly missteps include: - $14.8 billion for the so-called “Deferred Resignation Program,” which paid roughly 200,000 federal employees to stay home for up to eight months. - $6.1 billion spent on more than 100,000 employees who were removed from their roles or placed on extended administrative leave, many still collecting pay while doing no work. - $263 million in lost interest and fees at the Department of Energy after loan freezes stalled projects critical to affordable energy and grid stability. - $155 million in lost productivity from forcing nearly a million employees to send weekly “accomplishment” emails to the Office of Personnel Management, consuming millions of work hours. - $110 million in spoiled food and medical aid sitting in warehouses, with destruction costs to be billed to taxpayers. - $66 million wasted by assigning highly trained professionals to menial tasks, such as paying over $138,000 for scientists to act as guest greeters in national parks. - $41.8 million to move more than 250 employees at one agency physically closer to an office. - $38 million written off from failed science and technology projects at the NIH and IRS. - $1.7 million burned on unnecessary expense-justification processes at multiple agencies, including defending the need for FAA window cleaning.