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New Delhi:
The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by billionaire and White House advisor Elon Musk, has deactivated over 2 lakh federal government credit cards to streamline spending.
The move, announced a few days ago on X (formerly Twitter), follows a broader push to curtail administrative costs and overhaul government expenditure practices.
Why has DOGE deactivated credit cards
DOGE first said on February 18 that it was working with agencies to simplify government credit card accounts and eliminate unnecessary expenditures.
According to the department's estimates, the federal government had around 4.6 million active credit cards, facilitating around 90 million transactions during the 2024 fiscal year.
A week later, US President Donald Trump reinforced the effort by signing an executive order to reshape federal spending. The order placed a 30-day freeze on agency employee credit cards, impacting several departments.
In its latest update a few days ago, DOGE said that, following a three-week audit of 16 federal agencies, over 200,000 credit cards had been deactivated.
Weekly Credit Card Update!
Pilot program with 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards. After 3 weeks, >200,000 cards have been de-activated. Great progress this past week by @HHSGov @Interior
As a reminder, at the start of the audit, there were ~4.6M active… pic.twitter.com/xZaZJ51AOV
Just last week, the agency announced the cancellation of around 1.46 lakh cards.
Commenting on the matter, Elon Musk said, “There are still almost twice as many credit/purchasing cards as people in the government, and the limits are $10,000! A lot of shady expenditures are happening.”
There are still almost twice as many credit/purchasing cards as people in the government, and the limits are $10,000!
A lot of shady expenditures happening. https://t.co/HrVkuA6Q1s
Efforts to streamline federal spending
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have long championed reducing government spending. While the credit card freeze order includes exemptions for employees engaged in disaster relief, natural disaster response and other critical services, reports suggest it has disrupted routine operations in several federal agencies.
For instance, employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have faced difficulties in procuring essential lab supplies, which are crucial for ensuring consumer safety, according to Wired and The Washington Post.
In addition, civilian employees at the Department of Defense have been affected by a drastic reduction in their government travel credit card limits.
A March 5 memo revealed that these limits had been cut to just $1, with exemptions only for travel directly supporting military operations or permanent station changes.
Despite these measures, DOGE has not disclosed the projected financial savings resulting from the cancellations, leaving many questioning the actual impact of the initiative.
Impact on Federal Agencies
According to a report in Newsweek, similar past cost-cutting measures, such as mass layoffs within federal agencies, have yielded little to no financial benefit.
What is DOGE?
Established through an executive order on January 20, DOGE is a newly formed advisory body tasked with reducing federal government inefficiencies. Since its inception, the department has pushed for drastic workforce reductions.
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