DOGE Finds Zero Fraud, Waste, or Abuse, Just New Ways to Harm Veterans
Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created under the guise of eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in federal spending. But, like many of Musk’s grand pitches — Hyperloops, Mars colonization, Tesla robots, robotaxis, self-driving cars — DOGE is just another empty promise from one of the world’s most practiced conmen.
In its supposed “savings” report, DOGE claimed to have saved $55 billion — a small portion of of which came from capping payments for research grants. The rest? There aren’t any real savings. All DOGE did was cancel government contracts. That’s like deciding to stop paying your bills and mortgage to cover your credit card debt, only to realize your so-called “savings” won’t even cover a single interest payment.
A common theme in the DOGE data is the cancellation of subscription-based services that federal congressional and public affairs offices rely on, such as newspapers with paywalls, Beltway tipsheets, and telephone and email directory systems. This move will only make the government less efficient and force those in these roles to spend more time tracking down news and contact information essential to their work. These contracts were all approved by the agencies with money allocated by Congress, who seems to have conceded more of their authority to Musk every day.
Worse, many of the canceled contracts were awarded to disabled and veteran-owned small businesses. Musk and Trump seem to have a particular knack for shortchanging veterans — even those who don’t rely on care from the Department of Veterans Affairs or work for the federal government. One contract, valued at $3.8 million, provided training for federal agencies. It was awarded to a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business and Minority-Owned Business Enterprise specializing in organizational and management consulting.
The contract, according to federal records, was for “DEIA program and project management support services” — a sin in Washington amid Trump’s all-out war on diversity programs. The company, founded in 2008 by Marine Corps veteran Chris Gonzalez, now faces uncertainty due to these cuts.
Another contract, valued at $5.7 million, was arbitrarily canceled by DOGE and belonged to MIRACORP, INC., an all-woman, disabled veteran-owned business based in Mesa, Arizona. The company provides project management assistance for federal agencies — in this case, for the Green Proving Ground program, which reportedly helped the government save $28 million on energy costs each year.
By ending this contract on a program that helped cut costs, you are supposed to believe the fiction that the government is actually saving money. These so-called DOGE “savings” do add up — at the expense of veterans.
The largest group affected by DOGE’s cuts at the VA has naturally been veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
It should come as no that, amid DOGE’s mass purge at the Federal Aviation Authority, Musk has offered the services of his SpaceX company to the FAA to “help make air travel safer.”
With DOGE currently preparing to raid the Pentagon, we can expect even more veteran- and disabled veteran-owned businesses, along with government contractors that compete with Musk’s companies, to be cut. The Department of Defense is also one of the largest employers of veterans in the nation. DOGE firings are expected to start Wednesday. If DOGE does “audits,” like they did at USDA or the National Nuclear Security Agency, we can expect more chaos.
As part of its “savings,” DOGE also canceled federal real estate contracts, including a $27,000 annual lease in a property in Las Cruces, New Mexico, that houses the Las Cruces Vet Center. Vet Centers are vital components of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, established after the Vietnam War to provide veterans with a space outside traditional government facilities, helping them avoid the stigma associated with federal institutions at the time. These centers provide life-saving counseling services for veterans and their families — I have personally witnessed their staff intervene to prevent veteran suicide attempts.
The DOGE site claims this Vet Center will be relocated to a federal building, with the nearest major facility being over three hours away in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Vet Center will still pay rent — the funds will now go to the U.S. General Services Administration instead of a private landlord, redirecting money away from the local economy of Las Cruces. The result? A grand total of $0 in taxpayer savings.
With little understanding of how the federal government operates, DOGE’s actions are only setting the stage for further harm, as they arbitrarily close additional facilities — and especially as they gain access to the largest federal funding source, the Pentagon.
In claiming it’s produced billions in savings, DOGE has taken credit for canceling contracts that were already mostly paid — exaggerating savings by counting unobligated funds as if they were guaranteed future expenses.
In some cases, it has inflated savings numbers by orders of magnitude, pretending an $8 million contract was actually $8 billion, and failing to fix its error when social media users flagged the discrepancy. This isn’t fiscal responsibility; it’s an accounting gimmick designed to make the numbers sound good while veterans pay the price..
DOGE has uncovered no real waste or abuse — only contracts it could cancel to create the illusion of savings. The real cost falls on the veterans who rely on these services, the contracts that support them, and the businesses that employ them.
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