Hundreds of billions in wasteful spending
To the editor:
The largest employment in the United States of America is government employment (most are unnecessary jobs and a waste of taxpayer funds). The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has and continues to identify hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending, not only offshore, but even more domestically. We, the people, have been told that Social Security and Medicare are our largest expenditures. Elon Musk has brought to the forefront, for all to see the tremendous waste in government spending for employment not needed. Rather than trying to help cut wasteful spending, Democrats continue to run interference, as they continue to push their tax-and-spend policies. We can’t look the other way, bury our heads in the dirt, and say it’s nothing to worry about when our nation is approaching $37 trillion in national debt – taxpayers’ burden for generations to come. We are in a war to get our country back.
The Laken Riley act was passed, but 35 of the 47 senate Democrats voted no and 156 of the 215 Democrats in the house of representatives voted no. The total wasteful spending, on illegal immigrants, during the past 4 years, has exceeded $1 trillion and continues to grow. Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, Garland, and all those who voted “no” on the Laken Riley Act are guilty of the shedding of innocent blood and the waste of taxpayer monies to support illegal immigrants. If they valued life, they would have voted “yes.” Many illegals and American citizens have died because of the “willing idiots” in Congress favoring illegal (against the law) immigration. Along with Biden and Harris, Congress should have stopped the invasion at our border, but they refused to do so. Billions more tax monies will still have to be spent returning the criminal element back to their homeland. Hakeem Jefferies and Chuck Schumer should explain to their colleges that unlawful entering into America is an illegal act and that all illegal acts are criminal acts. Thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars could have been saved if the Democrat Party knew how to “count the cost” and “reason things out” as our Holy Bible tells us to do.
DOGE has uncovered $926 billion (not millions, but billions, lacks only $74 billion being a trillion dollars) that occurred during Biden’s four years, that were lost due to improper payments. There are $4.7 trillion of “missing monies” that DOGE has not been able to trace. $363 million was stopped by DOGE from going to schools for DEI programs. DOGE identified over $10 billion in waste that was paying for empty office spaces. Many of the government employees were holding down two jobs, but did not have time to go to their government offices or jobs. Many of those who received government checks should have never been hired or should have been terminated months before they were. DOGE has discovered that $346 million was given to dead people. Who received these monies? Millions of deceased people are still on the roles of Social Security and Medicare. They reported that 3,542,000 people are from 140 to 150 years of age and 1,385,000 are from 150 to159 years of age and are still on the roles. To make stupidity worse, some are between the ages of 300 to 369 years old. Do you believe that the personnel who have been keeping these files should continue to work for the American taxpayers?
Fifty-nine million dollars was stopped by DOGE that was being diverted from FEMA to pay for 5-star hotels for housing the illegal immigrants instead of paying for natural disasters, as intended by Congress. The Republican Congress removed part of a bill that the Democrats were pushing that would have paid taxpayer monies to build a $3 billion stadium in D.C. Congress should never use taxpayer monies to finance building stadiums for millionaire athletes and owners. This is just as bad as Biden passing student debt down to truck drivers, farmers, construction workers, school teachers, etc. The waste-list on waste is extremely long, but I must get to subjects that I would like to see investigated:
Do you know how long Amtrak has operated without making a profit? If you guessed 54 years, then you were spot on. Do you know who operates Amtrak? Yes, the American government. Over the past 54 years, there have been many years where the operational cost has exceeded $6 billion and where $1 million bonuses were given to CEOs as a reward for failure. Why is our government in the railroad passenger business? For the past 54 years, well over $1 trillion has been wasted and tens of billions in interest has been added to our national debt. It is a no-brainer for Congress to sell Amtrak and apply these monies to help reduce our growing debt. Our government should have never wasted taxpayer dollars to the degree that they have. Why has our government ignored this terrible waste for 54 years?
The United States Postal Service is another entity that has questionable performance. The postal service has had losses in excess of $6 billion per year, and yet, they still give their executives and CEOs elaborate bonuses for failure. (Why give bonuses for excessive losses?) President Trump just announced that he has future plans for the Postal Service. Waste must stop.
Did you know that the Department of Education’s budget has increased by 749 percent from the year 2000? Do you know that there are 4,400 staffers led by the Secretary of Education who are working in D.C.? Their budget was $14 billion when they first started in 1979, but now their budget is $238 billion (a 1,700 percent increase). Why are they in D.C.? All our schools are not in D.C. Bureaucrats don’t teach our children, teachers do. The Department of Education needs to be dissolved, and this savings needs to be used to lower our national debt. (When I was in the fifth grade, it was my teacher who put me back on the right track, not bureaucrats from D.C.)
Our colleges are out of control. The yearly cost at Harvard in 1970 was $4,070 but now for 2025, it is $56,550 (almost a 1,400 percent increase). All grants going to rich colleges should stop until improvements are made and education is improved, for the good of our country.
Education at K-12 and our colleges has been in fast decline as monies greatly increased. When more money is sent, less learning is happening. Democrat leaders have really hurt our children by implementing WOKE programs such as DEI, CRT, BLM, transgenderism, and others, while they fade away from basics such as reading, writing, and math.
There have been tens of billions lost due to government office personnel buying new furniture for their offices each and every year. (Many of the government office personnel don’t even go to their offices.) Congress should allow the purchase of new office furniture only every ten years, not every year.
Congress tried to pass a bill that would have given each member of congress a $70,000 a year increase in their pay. Thankfully the Republican party voted this raise out of the bill. If Congress members refuse to stop foolish spending and keep us out of default, then a congressional pay cut needs to happen rather than a pay increase. In the last 3 months of the Biden term, the White House spent over $650 million on lobster and steak dinners while we ate dry beans and cornbread. This kind of foolishness needs to stop.
Leon Chavers
Walnut Hill, Fla.