Posted on 02/09/2025 6:26:49 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Elon Musk said Saturday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the U.S. Treasury Department have agreed on new anti-fraud measures aimed at preventing tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent government entitlement payments each year.
In a Feb. 8 statement shared on social media, Musk described the scale of the problem as “utterly insane,” citing estimates that at least $50 billion annually is being lost due to improper payments, including funds going to individuals without Social Security Numbers or even temporary ID numbers.
Musk, who leads DOGE and has been designated a “special government employee” by President Donald Trump, revealed in the post that Treasury officials estimated that $100 billion in annual entitlement payments may be going to individuals without verifiable identification.
In a discussion with Treasury personnel, Musk said he asked for an estimate of how much of that is “obvious and unequivocal” fraud, and the consensus was that at least half—$50 billion per year, or around $1 billion per week—is fraudulent.
“This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately,” Musk wrote, adding that the DOGE team and Treasury have jointly agreed to a series of reforms.
One of the most significant changes will be the requirement that all outgoing government payments include a payment categorization code. According to Musk, these codes are essential for financial audits, yet they are frequently left blank, making it nearly impossible to track where taxpayer dollars are going.
Under the new rules, every payment will also need to include a rationale in the comment field. Currently, many government payments lack any explanation, making it difficult to assess their legitimacy, Musk said. While he emphasized that no judgment will be applied to these rationales at this stage, requiring at least some justification for payments is expected to serve as a deterrent against waste and fraud.
Another reform involves more effective implementation of Treasury’s Do-Not-Pay list, which is meant to prevent payments to fraudulent entities, deceased individuals, suspected terrorist fronts, and other entities or people who should not be paid by federal agencies. Musk said that this list has not been strictly enforced, with some payments still being made to flagged entities. He also pointed out that it can take up to a year for names to be added to the list, calling for weekly or even daily updates to prevent ongoing fraud.
Musk said that the above “super obvious and necessary” changes will be implemented by existing, long-time career Treasury employees; not anyone from the DOGE. His remarks in this regard align with Treasury Department Scott Bessent’s insistence that DOGE members have read-only access to Treasury data and that they have not been “tinkering” with sensitive payment systems at the department.
The development comes as DOGE focuses its cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing efforts at multiple federal agencies, including Treasury, as part of the Trump administration’s broader aim of reducing deficits and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse from government.
Republicans have praised DOGE’s efforts to identify government waste, while Democrats have denounced the body’s actions as an abuse of power and its operations as skirting congressional oversight. There have been protests over DOGE by members of Congress, federal employee unions, and privacy advocates, along with a number of lawsuits targeting its activities. Recently, a judge blocked DOGE’s access to the personal financial data of millions of Americans at the Treasury Department.
Bessent recently defended DOGE’s actions at Treasury. He said in an interview with Bloomberg that the DOGE team is made up of highly trained professionals and “not some roving band running around doing things,” possibly in reference to claims by critics that DOGE has embraced and is applying the adage “move fast and break things,” which is part of the Silicon Valley start-up culture of being innovative, nimble, and disruptive.
“This is methodical and it’s going to yield big savings,” Bessent said of DOGE’s work at Treasury.
In a follow-up post on Saturday, Musk said that the reason no action was taken under prior Treasury leadership to tackle the $50 billion or more in fraudulent government payments is complacency.
“Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before,” Musk wrote. “I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management. Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain minimization.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Treasury Department with a request for comment.
A billion here and a billion there…pretty soon your talking real money 🙄
You’re
50 billion is a rounding error. C’mon
Sadly trillion here trillion there….
If someone dies while collecting social security, and no one informs social security, the checks are deposited automatically in bank account for ever. I remember reading there are hundreds of retirees overage 120 getting SS deposited in bank account.
They stopped my parents’ quickly. I think the funeral home informed them because I, as the executor, did not.
“I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management.”
Just as I predicted. Good people are not allowed to do their job properly.
Ditto with those on voter roles...remember in 2020 people 120 YO casting ballots
Unfortunately a good portion of the general public could care less about the national debt and rooting out corruption, what they like to see is tangible results in form of more in their shopping carts for less money, the same goes for their gas tanks along with lower prices for medical related items etc. I like and understand what Trump is trying to accomplish but not everyone has the patience.
I am just afraid unless he can give the public some beneficial results the deep state will use this to their advantage and will try to turn the public against him. Once this happens game is over and we aright back to where we started. I know it is not easy but he better put his mind to it and figure out how to pacify the public.
As I recall, with Reagan it took two years for the economy to start showing signs of improvement.
I hope this time it's faster.
throw out old data and start over.
I just hope once DOGE walks out the door the actions promised fixes continue. I have this fear the management will subtly resume fraudulent payouts.
Yes funeral homes are required to inform social security. But no one is required by law to use a funeral home as far as I know.
You are correct. After 2 years you never heard the word “Reaganomics” in media.
Not by law, but what it other way is there?
In India family arranges a private cremation at designated burning grounds.
I remember my grandfather’s pension required notary certification every month of his being alive.
That is different. It doesn’t happen like that here in Michigan. Everyone goes to a funeral home.
Awkward, but family or person using money from those checks should be brought up on charges.
Maybe DOGE can make a way for govt to easily soon after know when a person dies?
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