1. United States
2. Va.
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. 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. Please continue to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. This needs investigation.