Elon Musk’s DOGE, HHS ended $18 million contract with San Antonio nonprofit over empty migrant housing facility

[Ban Hammer 13,847]

Since Donald Trump took office, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been on a mission to fight waste, fraud, and abuse in the government. DOGE also has an X account highlighting the actions it is taking to allegedly help taxpayers save money.

In late February, DOGE's X account sent out a message reporting it had ended a contract with a San Antonio non-profit called Family Endeavors, claiming that by having HHS terminate the contract, they’d saved taxpayers over $215 million per year.

According to the DOGE post, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was paying around $18 million per month to Endeavors to run a facility in Pecos, Texas, that was intended for use housing unaccompanied migrant children. However, at the time, the facility was sitting empty.

more at https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-doge-hhs-ended-140500912.html

[TBoneTX 46,648]

People complain that what DOGE is saving won't put a dent in the national debt.

They overlook that "pennies add up."

[TBoneTX 46,648]

We Know How Much of the Department of Education Is Expected to Be Eliminated Under Trump

 

It's not entirely shocking news, but the Department of Education is about to undergo a severe reorganization, the most extensive since USAID was absorbed into the State Department.  The offices will be closed tomorrow, citing security concerns, with all staff instructed to vacate the headquarters by 6 pm tonight.  The long-term plan is to cut half of its current employees (via CBS News):  [...]

 

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/03/11/is-this-the-end-for-the-department-of-education-n2653647

[TBoneTX 46,648]

Layoffs Delayed As Dept. Of Education Unable To Calculate What Fifty Percent Of Employees Would Be

 

WASHINGTON, DC — Layoffs at the Department of Education were delayed yesterday after administrators could not calculate how many employees fifty percent would be.

"We got an order from the President to cut our employment numbers by fifty percent, but how in the world would you calculate that?  Do you like, times something?" DOE employee Kaitlyn Miller told the press.  "Maybe you divide, or even square root something.  We really don't know how to proceed.  I wish there were some sort of department of fractions."  [...]

 

https://babylonbee.com/news/layoffs-delayed-as-dept-of-education-officials-unable-to-calculate-how-many-employees-fifty-percent-would-be

[Boiler 46,546]

Pictured is the Concern charity office on Camden Street in Dublin. 400 people working for Concern Worldwide have been made redundant due to U.S. aid funding cuts and the Irish humanitarian organization expects that figure to rise. 

 

https://www.irishecho.com/2025/3/job-losses-at-concern

[Ban Hammer 13,847]

12 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Pictured is the Concern charity office on Camden Street in Dublin. 400 people working for Concern Worldwide have been made redundant due to U.S. aid funding cuts and the Irish humanitarian organization expects that figure to rise. 

 

https://www.irishecho.com/2025/3/job-losses-at-concern

still a mystery to me why the usa is bankrolling a charity in another country.

[Ban Hammer 13,847]

 

[Pooky 3,853]

On 3/14/2025 at 8:50 AM, Ban Hammer said:

still a mystery to me why the usa is bankrolling a charity in another country.

It's not just charities. ☠️

[Dashinka 25,181]

Maybe this should be a DOGE Finding Thread.  I am going to post this here rather than start another thread, but this is amazing.  I also highly doubt this is the only example of massive waste, fraud and corruption within the federal bureaucracy.  

 

Inside The Now-Shuttered Federal Agency Where Employees Lived ‘Like Reigning Kings’

 

This reporter spent a year investigating the agency a decade ago, and I found egregious and self-serving violations of hiring, pay, contracting, and purchase card rules. One thing I could not discover is why the agency actually existed, other than to provide luxurious lifestyles for its employees. Endless junkets to resort destinations, which employees openly used to facilitate personal vacations, were justified as building awareness of the agency in the hopes that someone would actually want to use its voluntary services.

 

FMCS seemed, quite clearly, to exist for the benefit of those on its payroll, and not much else. One employee told me: “Let me give you the honest truth: A lot of FMCS employees don’t do a hell of a lot, including myself. Personally, the reason that I’ve stayed is that I just don’t feel like working that hard, plus the location on K Street is great, plus we all have these oversized offices with windows, plus management doesn’t seem to care if we stay out at lunch a long time. Can you blame me?”

 

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/fmcs-slush-fund-abolished-by-trump

[Ban Hammer 13,847]

apparently a 9 month old baby got a 100k loan......
 

 

[TBoneTX 46,648]

"A few million here, a few million there, and soon it adds up to real money."  -- some former Senator (not verbatim)

[Dashinka 25,181]

Probably best to put this here.  There is a problem the former congressional staffer's logic.  If most members in congress are happy with keeping these zombie programs alive, then re-authorize them, don't pass the buck.

 

Might of the Living Feds: 1,500+ Cash-Sucking 'Zombies'

 

The Legal Services Corp. now stands as America’s oldest “Zombie” program, but it’s far from unique. At a time when the Trump administration is moving aggressively to scale back government, including eliminating the entire Education Department, it’s sobering to note that 1,503 agencies or programs live on despite expired authorizations, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Another 155 will expire on Sept. 30. The Zombies, nearly half of which have been officially dead for more than a decade, persist in a budgetary netherworld. In a deep dive last year, CBO analysts were able to find dollar amounts for 491 of the programs, with total expenditures of $516 billion. They don’t know how much funding the other programs received.

 

The total federal budget in 2024 was $6.8 trillion, meaning expired Zombie programs take up at least 8% of the budget, and likely much more.

 

“A lot of programs don’t get reauthorized because Congress is okay with how they’re operating,” said Josh Huder, former congressional staffer now at the Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute. “They continue to get annual appropriations because most members think they’re worthwhile.”

 

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/03/25/might_of_the_living_feds_1099569.html?mc_cid=c88c296ade&mc_eid=0622ebfa37