Trump Orders Agencies to Disclose Details of Wasteful Spending

President Donald Trump (C)—with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (L) and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (R)—signs an executive order in the White House halting federal funds for schools and universities that impose coronavirus vaccine mandates, on Feb. 14, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 18 a memorandum ordering agencies to publicize information about wasteful spending in a move described as enhancing government transparency.

“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest,” states the memorandum. “The American people have seen their tax dollars used to fund the passion projects of unelected bureaucrats rather than to advance the national interest.

“The American people have a right to see how the federal government has wasted their hard-earned wages.”

The order “requires all departments and agencies to disclose details about terminated programs, canceled contracts, and discontinued grants,” according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.

This comes as the Trump administration, largely through audits conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has cut what it has deemed as wasteful spending in the executive branch by canceling funding for programs and initiatives.

DOGE reported an estimated $55 billion in savings, according to the agency’s website.

Examples of spending the administration has canceled include a $50 million grant to an environmental group that believes in “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine” and a $1.5 million grant to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

After signing the order, Trump cited Social Security payments going to those too old to still be alive.

This included more than 3.4 million payments to people between the ages of 120 and 129; 121,000 payments to those listed between 160 and 169 years old; and 6,087 payments to those between 170 and 179 years old.

“I haven’t met any of them, and if I did, I would bless them,” he said, adding, “I would worship the ground they walk on.”

The administration, in its fact sheet, said it has canceled $881 million in Department of Education contracts—such as one worth $4.6 million that went toward organizing Zoom and in-person conferences.

The fact sheet cited a 2024 Government Accountability Office report, which stated that the U.S. government “could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud.”

While talking to reporters, Trump cited other instances of what his administration has deemed as wasteful spending such as voluntary medical male circumcisions in Mozambique, “$10 million for circumcisions in another country,” and the Prague Civil Society Center getting $32 million.