Posted on 02/20/2025 4:16:56 AM PST by airdalechief
In a bombshell revelation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has exposed a shocking level of federal spending abuse, revealing that the U.S. government has over 4.6 million active credit cards in circulation, processing a staggering 90 million transactions worth nearly $40 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.
“The US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend in FY24. DOGE is working w/ the agencies to simplify the program and reduce admin costs – we will report back in 1 week,” the account wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
I believe there are approx 2 million fed employees. So why are 4.6 million cards needed? For contractors, let their companies issue cards.
On my government credit card, the charges were carefully monitored.
You were allowed, as I recall (more than a decade ago) about $50 per day for three meals.
You had to stay at a government approved motel/hotel, which honored the government rate (usually about $75-$125, depending on the area) very high priced areas had higher rates or you could not get a room. All the transportation costs for air fare were at standard commercial rates. Rental
cars were at an approved, discounted government rate, if you wanted extra insurance, you paid for it yourself.
A few times I was able to use my private car and drive, when I could show it was cheaper than the cost of air fare and a rental car. I think I was reimbursed at about 50 cents a mile.
I am not defending anything. I am just pointing out that in your blind range they have you barking up the wrong tree. Trillions over the years filtered through NGOs with kickbacks to pay off a few elites and and their spouses and you want to audit government travel cards which are one thing that are thoroughly audited. You are focused on the trivial. No government or contract employee is getting rich off of his travel vouchers. Is the odd unnecessary trip taken? Probably, but several people have to sign off on each trip before it is taken. Does the employee profit from that? Well, hard to see how since he is only reimbursed for what he paid for hotels, rental cars, etc.
Cancel every one of them immediately, then reissue to only those that are absolutely necessary and only for a set time, like 12 months.........................
I bet the Frequent Flyer Miles would pay for a trip to Jupiter.................
I believe there are approx 2 million fed employees. So why are 4.6 million cards needed? For contractors, let their companies issue cards.
The penalties for using the government card for personal expenses were severe. It wasn’t hard to lose your job if abuse was shown. As I recall, if you could show it was an emergency - Such as your car broke down and all you had was the government card to get a tow - you were let off with a warning *if* you paid the card off when it came up.
I saw people be fired for card abuse - usually they had a drug, alcohol, or gambling addiction - and cases where they almost lost their job but they were given a slap on the wrist for the one-time minor mistake - again, only if they paid off the debt right away.
There were also cards which were issued with fleet cars so people using the cars could purchase gas when government gas was not available.
At one point, I recall having another card, to be used for a specific program only.
I agree with you on that: This is relatively small potatoes.
But no blind range or rage on my part, just impatience with incoherent talking down from your keyboard.
I bet the Frequent Flyer Miles would pay for a trip to Jupiter.................
One of the stated efficiencies of the government credit card system was the government was to get the benefit of the frequent flyer miles.
What actually happened, because individuals had to apply for the frequent flyer miles with individual airlines, and with the government credit card, they had to turn those over to the government, most people simply did not apply for the frequent flyer programs. Employees could not be forced to join a frequent flyer program. They got nothing from it, so it was just an extra annoyance.
“Why wouldn’t the agencies use credit cards?”
4,600,000 of them?
L
The average transaction cost per card is $450. $9,000 over the year. $750 a month. Where is all that money going? That’s what is being looked into. I find it very, very difficult to believe there isn’t any waste or abuse occurring here. Not everyone, obviously, but that’s still a lot of money.
“Why wouldn’t the agencies use credit cards?”
4,600,000 of them?
Credit cards offer a much easier way to track minor expenses than having employees pay cash, then fill out vouchers to recover $20 purchases, needed now. I did that in Panama for years so I could buy minor things on the local economy, rather than send off to the headquarters in White Sands Missile range, and wait a month to get the batteries issued and sent overseas.
It was a terribly inefficient system, and I had to spend a couple of hours a month filling out paperwork for $50 worth of merchandise. It was better than holding up a program because you were not authorized to spend $20.
Credit cards are much more efficient and keep a good paper trail of what was bought.
When I was at Yuma Proving Grounds, we would have a couple of hundred projects running at the same time. Some projects lasted a few weeks, some multiple years. Each project had a manager and people under them. A manager and crew could handle several minor projects at once. Projects may have had several credit cards issued to different people, but I was not involved with that - we were given project numbers which we charged our support work to.
The disturbing part is 4.6 million cards and only 3 million govt employees. When you back out the doormen, janitors, maids, etc, that’s probably two cards per person. Why?
As for contractors, why would they be entitled to a card? They are a separate entity assuming to get a 1099? Pay with your own money and submit expense reports.
EC
I think it probably was like that, or should have been, but I hear about govt workers pocketing their per diem money so who knows.
I believe there are approx 2 million fed employees. So why are 4.6 million cards needed? For contractors, let their companies issue cards.
Although not every govt employee as a credit card, some are issued to contractors (their employer should be providing them cards and getting reimbursement through proper channels), gas cards are usually managed on a per vehicle basis, so almost every vehicle has its own card that is used for gas only. They are set so that you cannot use to buy anything else.
I find it very, very difficult to believe there isn’t any waste or abuse occurring here. Not everyone, obviously, but that’s still a lot of money.
There are always some people looking to game the system.
The question is: how best to minimize it?
Government credit cards provide a way to track it better than cash and vouchers.
Here is an example of a persistent rumor where I worked.
A high level manager got romantically involved with a mid level person who was the wife of another mid-level person.
The husband complained. The husband ended up being fired. The wife/lover got promoted and promoted beyond her ability to manage. It was rumored she was very good at her unofficial “duties”.
The high level manager and the woman would take trips to conferences (separately authorized) in the same city, which “served” a double duty as a romantic getaway.
All of this was supposedly investigated. Whistle blowers tended to lose their jobs. Nothing could ever be proven.
Eventually, the high level manager had to retire. The possible lover retired at nearly the exact same time, even though it was not the optimum time for her to do so.
Total cost of this possible “fraud/abuse”? Probably a couple hundred thousand dollars, spread over 20 years.
Lots of people wanted to prove this happened. No one was ever able to prove fraud or abuse, although several tried.
I am fairly certain it did happen. I knew some of the people involved. No one ever admitted to any wrong doing.
Nothing could be proven.
And even in those scandals for the most part the travel costs to the government were limited to government travel reimbursement allowances, which are not paltry, but they are not generous either.
All I did was post the average per card charges.
My take is that there is surely abuse, but there are also bigger fish to fry. We need to fry all the fish, but I’d rather see the publicity given only to that which is substantial and provable, so as to help our cause.
The per diem is an allowance for food and incidental expenses. If you want to buy cheese and crackers and eat in your room with it you can. If you want to buy a $500 Michelin star meal with it you can, but about $450 comes out of your own pocket.
I worked at DOJ and later DHS. We had three types of cards. Travel cards, vehicle fleet cards (for gas and repairs) and procurement cards for equipment and supplies.
All these cards/accounts had to be reconciled at the end of each month. This is simple accounting stuff.
Very few people were issued procurement cards. You had to sit through two weeks of training.
I always wondered who was making those Fans Only models so rich.
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