In the first 200 days of the second Trump Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has saved the American people $12 billion through common-sense cost accountability processes across DHS.
These accountability processes are at the very core of the mindset of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that is now embedded in all departments of the federal government.
By reducing the size of government and eliminating career bureaucrats, Noem saved U.S. taxpayers $1.3 billion. All of these savings were achieved without cuts to key law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement and positions with a public safety responsibility.
Secretary Noem personally reviews and approves any contract above $100,000. This process saved U.S. taxpayers an additional $10.7 billion.
“It is stunning that for years, career bureaucrats were unilaterally signing off on hundred-million-dollar contracts leading to massive waste, fraud, and abuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “While lobbyists and special interests are fighting for government contracts, Secretary Noem is fighting for the American taxpayer.”
These figures don’t even include the additional savings from DHS's immigration enforcement efforts under President Trump’s leadership.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates the net cost of illegal immigration at the federal, state, and local levels was at least $150.7 billion annually as of early 2023. This translates to an average cost of $8,776 per illegal immigrant or U.S.-born child of illegal immigrants per year. Removing 1.6 million illegals from the country has resulted in an additional $14 billion in cost savings per year.
Since taking office, Noem has reviewed more than 5,000 contracts and reviews all contracts within 24 hours. DHS’s reforms have exposed years of unchecked spending, including infamous examples such as the federal government paying $1,300 for a single re-heatable coffee cup.
In other DOGE related news, according to SCOTUSBlog, “By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court agreed to allow the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funding source for biomedical research in the world, to terminate $783 million in grants linked to DEI initiatives.”
A goal of the Trump Administration, and a mission of DOGE, is to eliminate race-based and identity-based decision making and programs across the federal government and in funding to any foreign effort.
Contracts Update
Over the last 5 days, agencies terminated 163 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.9B and savings of $647M, including, a $35M USAID contract to “acquire contractor support to establish and manage a flexible, quick response mechanism supporting activities that will support democracy and stability in El Salvador”, a $280k DOI contract for “horse mounted patrol groom services”, a $102k DOT contract for an “assessment specialist academics provost office”, a $179k State Dept. contract for “customized English language training to the US embassy in Yerevan, Armenia”, and a $25k DOI contract to “provide facilitation, collaborative problem solving services”.