Millions of taxpayer dollars were poised to be completely wasted, going toward efforts to drive “social and behavior” changes in Uganda and develop “socially responsible” behaviors in Colombia, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced this week.
“US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled,” DOGE announced, providing a list of several ways the U.S. government was poised to waste hard-earned taxpayer dollars. For example, $42 million was expected to go to Johns Hopkins to “research and drive ‘social and behavior change’ in Uganda.” Another $25 million was set to “‘promote biodiversity conservation and promote licit livelihoods’ by developing ‘socially responsible’ behaviors in Colombia.”
Further, $40 million was set to “improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants,” and a whopping $520 million was allotted for a consultant to do what DOGE described as “ESG investments in Africa and ‘mobilize private sector resources and expertise.’”
The taxpayer money that was set to be wasted overseas does not end there, as DOGE also revealed that $69 million was set to go to the Eurasia Foundation for “digital transformation activity” in Europe.
Other discoveries, per DOGE’s list, include:
-$32mm to Internews for programs including “media enabling democracy, inclusion, and accountability in Moldova” and the promotion of “sustainable media outlets”
-$7mm for the American Bar Association to promote the “resilience” of the “Eurasian legal sector and civic society”
-$45mm to “address the needs, opportunities, and challenges identified by activists and other civic actors engaged in nonviolent collective action”
-$52mm for the World Economic Forum
According to DOGE’s official website, the total estimated savings rings in around $65 billion thus far. DOGE says this savings is a combination of what it describes as “fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings.”
The figures, currently updated twice a week, has an “agency efficiency” leaderboard showcasing which agency has led to the most total savings. As of Wednesday, the Department of Education was in first place, followed by the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The number one agency with the least total savings is the Department of State, followed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Transportation (DOT).
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