The Trump administration released receipts of federal contracts that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has helped revoke in its efforts to downsize government spending, the White House said on Feb. 12.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced DOGE’s review of the contracts during a press briefing on Feb. 12. She said the advisory commission has a website where staffers post the “receipts of the contracts that they are reviewing and the payments that they have stopped from going out the door” in coordination with agency heads.
Democrats in Washington have increasingly criticized both the Trump administration and DOGE for probing federal agencies without proper congressional oversight or transparency, as terminating appropriated funds is within Congress’s authority rather than the executive branch. Leavitt pushed back on Feb. 12 and suggested the receipts were evidence of DOGE’s transparency.
“We have contracts upon contracts that we can send and provide this information to you,” Leavitt said. “Let me be very clear, we are not trying to hide anything. We have been incredibly transparent, and we will continue to be.”
The Epoch Times reviewed five examples of these contracts in a document sent by the White House, including a roughly $36,000 contract with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for “diversity, equity, inclusion [DEI], and accessibility training for leadership and supervisors who manage teams.” The contract was solicited in August 2024 and started a month later, but was scheduled to end on Jan. 22.
President Donald Trump has signed executive orders banning DEI initiatives in federal agencies. Leavitt said that the contract is “against the president’s policies in his ‘America First’ agenda.”
Another payment, of $3.4 million, involved adding 10 new members to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Council for Inclusive Innovation and was described by the White House as a “public relations firm contract.” With a start date in March 2023, the contract’s estimated ultimate completion date was not until March 2028.
DOGE also terminated a contract from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service worth just under $58,000 for “Sri Lanka climate change mitigation, adaption, and resilience coordinator services.” The contract started in September 2023 and was set to be completed in September of this year.
Referring to the USDA contract, Leavitt said it was doing “absolutely nothing” to further the interests of the American people.
Another contract awarded $2.3 million to the Air Force’s Air University to support its DEI virtual reality training course.
The “program is a modernized learning tool that consists of a mixed virtual reality experience that uses a combination of interactive scenarios with authentic, real-time dialogue to challenge individuals to engage in difficult diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) conversations,” the contract description states. The contract start and end date were not listed on the White House document.
The last contract the White House said DOGE eliminated was from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Job Corps, worth roughly $4 million and intended to support “DEIA consulting services and training.”
Beginning in June 2022, the contract was slated to last until Jan. 22.
USCIS, USPTO, USDA, Air University, and the Labor Department did not respond to requests for comment before publication time.
“It’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses. It’s essential,” Musk said. “It’s essential for America to remain solid as a country.”
The tech CEO said his team at DOGE is working to institute reforms at multiple agencies, including the Treasury Department.
“We’re really just talking about adding common sense controls that should be present that haven’t been present,” Musk said. “Let’s look at each expenditure and say, ‘Is this actually in the best interest of people?’ And if it is, it’s approved. If it’s not, we should think about it.”
Musk also acknowledged his critics, including the Democrats who see DOGE as a takeover of government without transparency. He suggested that Trump and the GOP’s ability to win a government trifecta in the 2024 election was a broader mandate for DOGE’s efforts.
“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what people are going to get,” Musk said.
He also dismissed concerns that he has a conflict of interest in leading DOGE while serving as owner and CEO of SpaceX, one of the federal government’s largest aerospace contractors.
“Transparency is what builds trust,” Musk said, adding that the public can see if any of DOGE’s work benefits him or his companies.
“And we'll give him the approval where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won’t,” the president said. “If there’s a conflict, then we won’t let him get near it.”
