The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said about 315,000 government credit cards have been canceled or limited by various federal agencies under a cost-savings program.
The Elon Musk-affiliated group wrote in a post on Tuesday that “up to [approximately] 315,000 credit cards” were canceled by a number of federal agencies, an increase from about 298,000 cancelations as of Sunday. DOGE said this was after a five-week “pilot program” was undertaken.
Credit card cancelations this week impacted agencies including the Departments of Homeland Security, Interior, Commerce, Treasury, State, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, and Labor.
According to a spreadsheet posted by DOGE, credit cards used by NASA, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and more were also cut.
Last month, DOGE said in a statement that it found more than 4.6 million government credit cards, which accounted for more than 90 million unique transactions, amounting to more than $40 billion last year.
Noting the number of agency credit cards, DOGE wrote there is”still more work to do.”
When it announced that figure, DOGE also released a breakdown of several agencies’ year-to-date spending, active accounts, and transaction amounts. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs had the highest spending at more than $17.3 billion, while the Defense Department was No. 2 at more than $11.2 billion.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security also spent more than $1 billion via their credit card accounts, while smaller government agencies and organizations recorded more than $2.3 billion combined in spending.
Since President Donald Trump created DOGE via an executive order in January, the group has gone from agency to agency and identified spending and programs to be slashed. However, DOGE has also faced a number of lawsuits about its access to different federal agencies and databases, including systems operated by the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.
In a lawsuit last week, a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security records and cited the plaintiffs’ privacy concerns. The judge also questioned whether DOGE had a legitimate reason to access the data under the pretext of targeting fraud, abuse, and waste.
Also, on March 24, DOGE was blocked from accessing Education Department data under a separate judge’s order, which also sided with plaintiffs’ arguments that the organization may be violating privacy laws with its access.
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