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From the Washington Examiner: Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the new leader of the Senate DOGE Caucus, is giving Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy advice on where the Department of Government Efficiency should start cutting federal government waste, including several Biden administration programs.
In a letter sent to Musk and Ramaswamy and obtained by the Washington Examiner, Ernst made a list of 22 areas worth a combined $1 trillion that she deems worthy of slashing to give the DOGE a head start in its task of making massive cuts to federal spending and the government workforce.
Ernst, known for her “Make ‘Em Squeal” awards targeting wasteful spending, said making the “porkers squeal” has been a “lonely fight” until now.
“While you’re seeking ‘super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries’ for ‘unglamorous costcutting,’ all that’s really needed is a little common sense,” Ernst wrote. “If you can’t find waste in Washington, there can only be one reason: you didn’t look.”
In her letter, Ernst wrote, “To give you a head start, here are a trillion dollars’ worth of ideas for trimming the fat and reducing the red ink.” Her list includes the following:
Vacant Buildings: Maintaining and leasing government office buildings costs $8 billion every year. Another $7.7 billion is spent for the energy to keep them running. Yet, with the federal workforce still largely working from home, not a single headquarters of a major government agency of department in the nation’s capital is even half full.
Audit the IRS: Americans are paying the salaries and benefits for thousands of federal employees who aren’t paying their own taxes.
Biden’s Billion Dollar Boondoggles: Biden’s so-called infrastructure program provided $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and $42 billion to expand broadband. Three years later, just 17 EV stations are completed, and not a single person – not one – has been connected to the internet yet. It’s time to pull the plug.
Golden State Gravy Trains Taking Taxpayers for a Ride: Just three California gravy trains are on track to burn through billions of dollars. She then references the high-speed train, Nancy Pelosi’s six-mile subway extension, and a 1.3-mile extension of San Francisco’s Caltrain rail service.
Other items on her list that need zapped include:
- Welfare for Politicians
- Trillion Dollar Secret Slush Funds
- Bogus Bonuses
- Silly Science
- Unemployment for Millionaires
- Government Swag
- Chain’s Mad Scientists
- United Nations Overpayments
- Defenseless Spending
- Remove ineligible recipients of federal employees health benefits
- Federal employees paid to do nothing
- Stop giving away farm aid for pet projects that do nothing to support agriculture
- Snap back inaccurate SNAP payments
- More…
Ernst posted a condensed version of her list on social media:
1. Ghost Workers 👻
We are spending $15.7 billion a year on underutilized buildings.
Many are vacant!
Bureaucrats refuse to show up to work, so why are we paying for empty buildings?
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
3. Undo Biden’s Billion-Dollar Boondoggles
Biden has spent $7.5 billion to build 17 EV charging stations and $42 billion to expand rural broadband but has connected zero people to the internet.
Pulling the plug on these programs will be the only efficient part about them.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
5. Stop Christmas in September 🎅
From $4.6 million for lobster tail to $2.1 million for games, the ridiculous “use it or lose it” model encourages wild spending by federal agencies before the end of fiscal year.@DOGE needs to be the Grinch and save taxpayers $53 billion.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
7. Bad Pennies
Currently, the federal government is paying 3 cents to produce a penny and 11 cents to make a nickel.
That makes no sense!
Only Washington could lose money making money.
Changing the composition of coins would save $50 million a year.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
9. Bogus Bonuses 🚀🛰️
The federal government spends hundreds of millions of dollars giving bureaucrats and contractors unearned bonuses for work that often never took place, including more than $500 million at @NASA.
Time to end this moondoggle.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
11. Unemployment for Millionaires
Nearly 15,000 Americans earning a million dollars in income collected $213 million in unemployment last year.
The million-dollar question – why are hardworking folks paying for this?
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
13. Head in the Clouds ☁️💻
Consolidating federal agencies’ cloud computing software licenses would save $750 million a year.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
15. UN Overpayments
The USA pays higher dues to the UN than any other country, and sends $15 billion more voluntarily, despite UN employees participating in terrorist attacks and encouraging illegal immigration to the USA.
Why are tax dollars undermining our national security?
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
17. Unhealthy Benefits
The Federal Employees Health Benefits program wastes $1 billion annually paying for ineligible individuals.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
19. Stop Giving Away the Farm 🚜@USDA spends millions to support pet projects like teaching pigs to play video games, subsidizing cricket farms, and other nonsense that does nothing to support our farmers.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
21. Reducing Duplication
Efficient and government rarely go with each other but implementing hundreds of recommendations from Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog @USGAO would increase efficiency and save $200 billion a year.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
This is just a $2 trillion start.@elonmusk, @VivekGRamaswamy, and @DOGE and I will be hard at work putting waste on the chopping block and carving up Washington’s bloated budget. #MakeEmSqueal
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 25, 2024
Unbelievable — Tax dollars are being wasted on empty government buildings and to study shrimp on treadmills! 🦐@DOGE will end this waste. It’s time to #makeemsqueal! pic.twitter.com/MH4R5PzZLI
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 26, 2024
Billion dollar boondoggles, tele-“working” bureaucrats, and vacant buildings.
Let’s stop this waste! @doge @elonmusk @vivekgramaswamy pic.twitter.com/GDXmOBGGkL
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 24, 2024
Below is the letter Ernst sent to Musk and Ramaswamy:
DOGE Trillion-Dollar Bluepr… by web-producers
I am partnering with the Trump admin and @DOGE to disrupt the business-as-usual bureaucracy in Washington.
My $2 trillion blueprint is an instruction manual to drain the swamp, eliminate waste, and get the federal government back on track. #MakeEmSqueal https://t.co/gGuS2qgNRw
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) November 26, 2024
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