What's Up Doge?

@DOGE X POSTS THAT DELIVER RESULTS

March 3–9, 2025: The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, hit hard in Week 7, slashing waste, exposing fraud, and launching https://doge.gov/payments to track over $215 billion in yearly spending. These @DOGE X posts show the numbers: real cuts, real data, real impact. Your tax dollars are finally getting some respect. Here’s the week, starting with the latest breakthrough.

MARCH 9, 2025 – DAY 49: PAYMENT DATA GOES PUBLIC & IAF OVERHEAD EXPOSED
What Happened: DOGE unveiled https://doge.gov/payments, demanding accountability for $215B in grants, and detailed inefficiencies at the Inter-American Foundation. The @DOGE posts:

• “The Program Support Center (PSC) in @HHSGov processes ~$215B/year ($860M/business day) in grant payments. When those payments are made: – If the grantee is directly drawing, no documentation, receipt, or explanation is required – If the agency is approving, there is no justification or documentation required Starting this week: – Grantees who are drawing money must include a brief justification of what the money will be used for – Agencies who are approving must include a brief justification of what the money will be used for and why they are approving” (https://x.com/DOGE/status/1898957551330533797)
  Why It Matters: $860M a day now needs a reason—closing a massive accountability hole.
  Your Take: Why let $860M slip out daily with no explanation—glad DOGE’s locking it down?
• “All payments (and soon the justifications) will be posted publicly at https://doge.gov/payments. The first 37,207 grant payments (3 days worth) have now been posted!” (https://x.com/DOGE/status/1898957789252235574)
  Why It Matters: 37,207 payments—like $267,820 for Fulbright or $116,700 for leadership programs—are online now for you to check.
  Your Take: Good to see where your money’s going and call out the waste?
• “Striving for maximum government transparency.” (https://x.com/DOGE/status/1898957789252235574)
  Why It Matters: Every dollar’s visible—no more hiding sloppy spending.
  Your Take: Nice to know DOGE’s making your taxes an open book?
• “More info on IAF: In 2024, ~45% of spend went to administrative overhead. Only ~55% went to the grants, which then have multiple additional layers of overhead. Other grants which were cancelled during the process of reducing IAF to its statutory minimum: – $523,000 for avocado marketing in Honduras – $770,550 for cacao farming in Peru – $1,509,200 for seed banks in Haiti and the Caribbean – $630,725 for fruit marketing in Bolivia – $303,000 for artisanal weaving in Mexico – $198,280 for agro-tourism in Saint Lucia”
  Why It Matters: $3.9M in grants cut, with 45% of IAF’s budget lost to overhead—barely half reached the ground.
  Your Take: Why sink 45% of your taxes into bureaucracy when DOGE’s cutting it loose?

MARCH 8, 2025 – DAY 48: LOAN FRAUD AND CONTRACT CUTS
What Happened: DOGE tackled SBA loan fraud and canceled more contracts. The @DOGE posts:

• Repost of Kelly Loeffler, 28th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration: “This week I signed a new policy that will require SBA lenders to conduct citizenship verification for loan applications – to end the flow of taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens. As of today, it’s official. America First!” (https://x.com/SBA_Kelly/status/1898452628167614849)
  Why It Matters: New rules stop loans to non-citizens—your money stays with Americans.
  Your Take: Good to keep your taxes from funding loans across borders?
• “In 2020-2021, SBA granted 5,593 loans for $312M to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan. While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name @DOGE and @SBAgov are working together to solve this problem this week.” (https://x.com/DOGE/status/1898587143796338826)
  Why It Matters: $312M in loans to kids—likely fraud—now under DOGE’s watch.
  Your Take: Why let your money go to fake kid-owned businesses—relieved DOGE’s on it?
• “Contract update! On Friday, there were 162 cancellations of non-essential contracts with a ceiling value of ~$205M and savings of $90M. This included @USDA cancelling a $10.3M unnecessary contract which, ironically, was for identifying unnecessary contracts.” (https://x.com/DOGE/status/1898590086159048844)
  Why It Matters: $90M saved, including $10.3M on a contract to find waste—DOGE did it better.
  Your Take: Nice to save $90M instead of paying for redundant contract reviews?

MARCH 7, 2025 – DAY 47: GRANTS UNDER SCRUTINY
What Happened: DOGE spotlighted a USDA grant cancellation. The @DOGE post:

• Repost of Secretary Brooke Rollins of the Dept. of Agriculture: “CANCELLED: $600,000 grant to study ‘menstrual cycles in transgender men’ Keep sending us tips. THANK YOU, @approject ! The insanity is ending and the restoration of America is underway.” (https://x.com/GailAlfarATX/status/1898869286971887954)
  Why It Matters: $600K cut from a niche study—DOGE’s redirecting funds to bigger priorities.
  Your Take: Better to save $600K than spend it on narrow research—agree?

MARCH 6, 2025 – DAY 46: WASTEFUL CONTRACTS SCRAPPED
What Happened: DOGE axed contracts at VA and CMS, saving millions with agency support. The @DOGE posts:

• “Two contractors spent 9 years and $200M working on a modern provider enrollment system at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). After 14 missed deadlines, zero usable output was produced. The contract has now been cancelled. Smart decision by @CMSGov and we look forward to working with you.”
  Why It Matters: $200M saved—DOGE ended a 9-year flop with no results.
  Your Take: Good to stop $200M of your taxes from vanishing into nothing?
• CMS posted: “CMS has now canceled these two contracts (saving $17.8M annually), has hired multiple software engineers, and, working with @DOGE, are accelerating this project.”
  Why It Matters: $17.8M/year saved, and CMS is fixing it in-house—DOGE’s driving efficiency.
  Your Take: Nice to save $17.8M yearly and get the job done right?
• “247 cancellations of wasteful contracts today, with a ceiling value of ~$999M and savings of ~$390M, including a $3.5M Dept. of VA consulting contract for outsourced ‘enterprise mail management program support services’ which the agency determined could be handled internally with the current @DeptVetAffairs team. In addition, @ENERGY @EPA @HHSGov contributed substantially.”
  Why It Matters: $390M saved—247 contracts gone, including $3.5M VA waste.
  Your Take: Why pay $390M for stuff agencies can do themselves—happy DOGE cut it?
• “The VA cancelled a $56,000 contract to water ~8 plants for 5 years. This is ~$1400/plant/year. The contract has been canceled and DOGE will water the plants free of charge.”
  Why It Matters: $56K saved—DOGE killed an absurd plant deal and stepped in.
  Your Take: Better to save $56K than overpay for plants—right?

MARCH 5, 2025 – DAY 45: GRANT CUTS AND CREDIT CARD AUDITS
What Happened: DOGE cut NIH grants, expanded credit card audits, and flagged HUD waste. The @DOGE posts:

• “Yesterday, @NIH cancelled seven grants for transgender experiments on animals including: – $532K to ‘use a mouse model to investigate the effects of cross-sex testosterone treatment’ – $33K to test ‘feminizing hormone therapy in the male rat’”
  Why It Matters: $565K saved—DOGE axed narrow animal studies.
  Your Take: Good to redirect $565K to broader needs instead?
• “Weekly Credit Card Update! Pilot program has been expanded to 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards. After 2 weeks, ~146,000 cards have been de-activated. As a reminder, at the start of the audit, there were ~4.6M active cards/accounts, so still more work to do.”
  Why It Matters: 146,000 unused cards cut—DOGE’s tackling a 4.6M-card mess.
  Your Take: Why keep millions of idle cards racking up fees—glad DOGE’s trimming them?
• Repost of VA Secretary Doug Collins: “The days of kicking the can down the road are over. We owe America’s Veterans solutions!”
  Why It Matters: VA’s aligning with DOGE—veterans get focus, not waste.
  Your Take: Good to see your taxes prioritize veterans over bureaucracy?
• “HUD completed the same audit. Initial findings on paid software licenses: – 35,855 ServiceNow licenses on three products; only using 84 – 11,020 Acrobat licenses with zero users – 1,776 Cognos licenses; only using 325 – 800 WestLaw Classic licenses; only using 216 – 10,000 Java licenses; only using 400 All are being fixed”
  Why It Matters: Thousands of unused licenses cut—DOGE’s saving on HUD’s software bloat.
  Your Take: Why pay for 35,855 licenses when 84 do the job—happy DOGE’s fixing it?

MARCH 4, 2025 – DAY 44: FRAUD PREVENTION AND AGENCY REDUCTIONS
What Happened: DOGE boosted water flow, exposed fraud, and cut agencies. The @DOGE posts:

• “Update: the daily average rate of Federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California increased by over 27% in February compared to January. Keep up the great work @usbr @Interior. Examples of observed improper payments below. This is likely being done at scale. – After an order for expedited deportation was issued in 2017, a migrant from Honduras used three different SSNs to submit 73 medicare claims totaling $48k. – Medicare paid $49k for a Rehab Center for a person recorded dead for over a year. – Medicare paid $57k in 2020 for a person recorded to have died in 2006. – After a warrant for her arrest was issued in 2019, a migrant from Colombia received 3 SBA loans for $100k (over $99k was forgiven). – Migrant from Peru received social security payments since at least 2007, with all benefit checks being mailed directly to Peru. and GAO report estimates $233B – $521B annually in fraud https://gao.gov/assets/gao-24-105833.pdf”
  Why It Matters: $233–$521B fraud flagged, water up 27%—DOGE’s catching cheats.
  Your Take: Why let your taxes fund dead people—good DOGE’s stopping it?
• “Great work saving taxpayer dollars by @SecRollins @USDA @Interior” (quoting Sec Brooke Rollins: “BIG WIN! @DOGE, @DOGE_USDA & @Interior worked together to cancel a wasteful $10M/year contract for an outsourced research project on the eating habits of SNAP recipients. $17M has been spent in the last 17 months for *2 consultants, No actual field research on eating habits was conducted.”)
  Why It Matters: $17M saved—$10M/year research flop ended.
  Your Take: Nice to save $17M instead of paying two guys for nothing?
• “The Inter-American Foundation, an agency whose primary action was to issue foreign grants ($60M budget), has been reduced to its statutory minimum (1 active employee). Examples of grants that were cancelled in the process: – $903,811 for alpaca farming in Peru – $364,500 to reduce social discrimination of recyclers in Bolivia – $813,210 for vegetable gardens in El Salvador – $323,633 to promote cultural understanding of Venezuelan migrants in Brazil – $731,105 to improve marketability of mushrooms and peas in Guatemala – $677,342 to expand fruit and jam sales in Honduras – $483,345 to improve artisanal salt production in Ecuador – $39,250 for beekeeping in Brazil”
  Why It Matters: $60M agency cut—foreign grants scrapped.
  Your Take: Why send $60M overseas when DOGE’s keeping it local?
• “Per the Executive Order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/commencing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy/” Summary: February 2025 order slashes bureaucracy, staff, and non-essential grants.
  Why It Matters: Legal backbone for DOGE’s cuts—streamlining’s official.
  Your Take: Good to have a plan that stops your taxes from bloating agencies?
• “In 2020-2021, @SBAgov issued 3,095 loans, including PPP and EIDL, for $333M to borrowers over 115 years old who were still marked as alive in the Social Security database. In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans.” (quoting Elon Musk)
  Why It Matters: $333M in suspect loans—DOGE’s rooting out fraud.
  Your Take: Why fund 157-year-olds—relieved DOGE’s on the case?
• “Nice job @epaleezeldin @EPA This included a $4M grant to provide materials ‘to increase workforce diversity in the construction materials sector’” (quoting Lee Zeldin)
  Why It Matters: $4M saved—DOGE cut an EPA diversity grant.
  Your Take: Better to save $4M than spend it on vague goals?
• Repost of Sec Doug Burgham: “Our team at @Interior is working with DOGE to streamline government, eliminate waste, and upgrade our critical infrastructure. This includes reviewing every one of the 36,000 Department of the Interior Grants & Contracts for waste, fraud, and abuse.”
  Why It Matters: 36,000 grants under review—DOGE’s tightening Interior’s belt.
  Your Take: Good to know your taxes won’t waste away in 36,000 unchecked grants?

MARCH 3, 2025 – DAY 43: IT CUTS AND DEI CONTRACT REVIEW
What Happened: DOGE hit OPM’s IT waste and DEI contracts. The @DOGE posts:

• “The Office of Personnel Management (~2500 employees) budgeted $370M for IT spending in FY2025. They believe this value can be reduced by ~80% while maintaining equivalent levels of service. Initial reductions include: -$1.9M for studies on quantum cryptography and quantum response readiness – $1.5M for support on a ‘large number of OPM-wide AI proof-of-concepts and pilots’ – $364k for 1,000 unused cybersecurity software licenses -$121k in unused Zoom licenses”
  Why It Matters: $3.9M saved—DOGE’s aiming for an 80% IT cut at OPM.
  Your Take: Why pay $370M when $74M works—glad DOGE’s slashing it?
• “Great job by the DOD, as they quoted a video by the DOD, where the DOD spokesman explained they had saved $80m million. The DOD account posted, ‘Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell on initial @DOGE findings at the DOD.’ where Sean says $80 Million was saved, and it is just the beginning. Although some of the posts commented on X that this is not enough!”
  Why It Matters: $80M saved—DOGE’s kicking off big at DOD.
  Your Take: Nice to bank $80M instead of losing it to inefficiencies?
• “Updated data on DEI related contract cancellations (separate from grants) by agency:” Summary: DOGE canceled 1,465 contracts worth $2.17B, saving $1.47B—e.g., $113M (DOD), $143M (DHS).
  Why It Matters: $1.47B saved—DOGE’s clearing DEI contract clutter.
  Your Take: Good to save $1.47B instead of funding redundant deals?

YOUR TAXES, YOUR VISIBILITY
Week 7: Over $2B saved, $215B/year tracked at https://doge.gov/payments—DOGE’s exposing waste and fraud so your money works smarter. Check @DOGE on X and doge.gov for the raw feed—numbers don’t lie.

DOGE Diaries: Your Weekly Efficiency Rundown