Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claims that the US Treasury Department pays $100 billion in benefits annually to unidentified individuals.
„Yesterday I was told that currently over $100 billion in benefits are being paid to people without a personal Social Security number or even a temporary ID. "If this is true, it is extremely suspicious," Musk wrote on X on February 8.
“When I asked if anyone at the Treasury Department knew even roughly what percentage of these payments were outright and obvious fraud, the unanimous answer was that we are talking about half, that is, $50 billion per year or $1 billion per week. This is insane to the extreme and needs to be addressed immediately,“ Musk stressed.
He noted that after discussing the issue between DOGE representatives and the Treasury Department, it was decided that all government payments would now be properly classified for further auditing. In addition, each money transfer must be accompanied by an explanation of the need for this payment. There will also be a regularly updated list of individuals who may be dead at the time of the transfer or who have ties to terrorist groups. These changes, according to Musk, are being implemented by Treasury Department employees, not the department under his control.
Immediately after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, DOGE began a large-scale audit of US budget spending. On January 24, the new agency reported that in the first 80 hours of work it had canceled government contracts deemed unnecessary, totaling about $420 million.
Musk expects to reduce US government spending by $2 trillion. At Musk's initiative, the United States Agency for International Development was temporarily closed for further reorganization. In addition, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant provided Musk's team with access to the federal payment system to monitor and limit government spending.
American labor unions have filed a lawsuit against the US Treasury Department for granting DOGE access to a system containing information on millions of government employees.