The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has brought many things to light including waste, fraud, and abuse. They have also made recommendations to eliminate many programs that fund woke programs, DEI programs, and other agencies that are not working towards a better America.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is one of these agencies. This past week, the State Department declared that UNESCO membership was 'not in the national interest' of the United States.
The State Department issued a statement saying that UNESCO works to advance “divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy. UNESCO’s decision to admit the “State of Palestine” as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”
"President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November," said White House Deputy Spokesperson Anna Kelly.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement on the exit that "Continued U.S. participation in international organizations will focus on advancing American interests with clarity and conviction."
In other nuts and bolts cutting and fixing, DOGE continues it work to streamline process and eliminate spending that is not in the best interest of America. To date, DOGE lists savings of $199 billion. That is $1,236.02 per taxpayer based on 161 million individual taxpayers. DOGE also estimates savings from regulatory changes at $30.1 billion.
DOGE has also deleted 1.8 million words from regulations and guidance documents. The website dashboards are updated weekly allowing you to track progress across all federal agencies.
Contracts Update
This past week, agencies terminated 141 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $5.1B and savings of $498M, including a $526k United States Agency for International Development (USAID) professional services contract for a “global health security advisor in Senegal”, and a $1.4M HHS contract for “professional services in Rwanda”.
Weather Radio Update
Since the last update, National Weather Service (NWS) upgraded 33 more sites to wireless (saving ~$114k/month), bringing the total to roughly 750 upgraded sites. NWS has finished producing networking kits for all LTE-compatible sites. The remaining 274 sites will complete upgrades across the US over the coming weeks.