WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to implement a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-led cost efficiency initiative.
According to a White House fact sheet, the order directs the use of “modern technology to transform Federal spending on contracts and grants by subjecting it to rigorous standards.”
It orders agencies to look for “waste, fraud, and abuse” in a review of government contracts.
“Government payments and travel expenses must be justified and made publicly available where possible,” it adds.
The heads of agencies and their DOGE team leads will coordinate a review. Any contracts deemed unnecessary will be terminated.
“The Order will reform the way the Federal government manages its real property,” the document notes, adding, “The General Services Administration (GSA) will submit a plan for disposing of unnecessary government-owned or leased real property.”
The White House said in a statement that the system as it currently stands neither prioritizes merit nor safeguards taxpayer dollars.
This is the latest in a slew of executive actions Trump has taken since returning to the White House in January. On Tuesday, he signed three executive actions.
One of those actions was a memo suspending any security clearances of members of a law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, who assisted then-special counsel Jack Smith.
Smith investigated Trump in two separate cases in his capacity as special counsel: The documents case and the federal case regarding the challenge of the 2020 election.
Another order Trump signed on Tuesday aimed to make healthcare prices more transparent.
A White House fact sheet noted the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services “will ensure hospitals and insurers disclose actual prices, not estimates, and take action to make prices comparable across hospitals and insurers, including prescription drug prices.”
Still another order Trump signed launches an investigation into threats imported copper poses to “America’s national security and economic stability,” the White House said.
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