Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, Money
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Politics, Money
Donald Trump may have said that he wants to 'make America rich again', but his administration is seemingly spending more than ever.
One of the key parts of Trump's campaign was his promises to cut back on government expenditure, even recruiting Elon Musk to head his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As of today (April 30), DOGE claims to have made $160 billion in savings which have come from a 'combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions', as per its website.
The figures advertised on the site have never been verified, however.
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One thing DOGE doesn't say on its website is how much they, and other departments within government, have spent — and it turns out this figure is more than it has saved.
According to analysis by CBS News, Trump has spent drastically more money in his first 100 days in office compared to the same period last year — $220 billion more, to be precise.
The news outlet looked at the Treasury Department's daily financial reports to get this figure.
CBS News says that 'many of the largest persistently rising costs are direct payments to the military and seniors'.
So far this year, on Veteran Affairs Benefits the government has reportedly spent over $52 billion.
With the government's apparent spending habits in mind, it's thought that America's debt is now at an eye-watering $36.2 trillion — if correct, this makes DOGE's reported $160 billion in savings just a drop in the ocean.
Elsewhere it has been said that it cost US taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal for the Musk-headed agency to save the supposed figure of $160 billion.
A big chunk of this is thought to have come from culling thousands of several federal employees.
Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, said of this: "We haven't seen much focus on the waste [DOGE] is creating. This is an effort that was created to address waste, but we were seeing the opposite."
But Trump has described the mass firings as a way of 'getting rid of the fat' that the country is 'riddled' with.
"We’re getting down to a point we think probably over the next two or three months, we’ll be pretty much satisfied with the people that are working hard and want to be members of the administration and our country," he said at the end of March, The Independent reported.
"Our country was riddled with fat, and we’re getting rid of the fat," he added.