DOGE Alleges $4.7 Trillion in Treasury Payments Are Missing Tracking Codes

In a groundbreaking revelation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, led by billionaire Elon Musk, announced that approximately $4.7 trillion in payments from the U.S. Treasury Department were missing critical tracking codes. This omission effectively made it impossible to trace where the money went, raising serious concerns about transparency and accountability in federal spending.

The discovery, shared on X (formerly Twitter), highlighted that the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS), an identification code used to link Treasury payments to specific budget line items, was often left blank. “In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible,” DOGE said. “As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.”

Elon Musk praised the new mandate as a “[m]ajor improvement in Treasury payment integrity.” He acknowledged the collaborative effort between DOGE, the U.S. Treasury, and the Federal Reserve to tighten financial oversight. “Nice work by all,” Musk wrote.

The change means that all future Treasury payments will now include a TAS code, offering unprecedented insight into how taxpayer dollars are allocated. This reform is expected to enhance budget transparency, reduce fraud, and minimize waste.

The Treasury Department was among the first agencies investigated by DOGE following President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The project, designed to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending, has already exposed billions of dollars in misspent funds.

One of DOGE’s recent findings involved the cost of maintaining a “physical lockbox” for processing more than 100 million paper checks annually. This outdated practice costs taxpayers around $2.40 per check, amounting to millions in unnecessary expenses. In fiscal year 2023 alone, around $25 billion in tax refunds were lost or delayed due to returned or expired checks.

DOGE’s scrutiny has not been limited to the Treasury. The watchdog project has also turned its attention to USAID, where it uncovered wasteful spending on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and other left-wing projects abroad. Astonishingly, DOGE revealed that USAID funds were even used to pay the college tuition of an Al-Qaeda terrorist who had lied about his resident country.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lauded DOGE’s work as methodical and transformative. “This is not some roving band … This is methodical and it is going to yield big savings,” Bessent said on Bloomberg TV last week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) echoed this sentiment, describing DOGE’s work as an “outside audit” that sheds light on hidden expenses. “We are applauding that, this is what we have been wanting and trying to do for a long time,” Johnson said. “This is a good development.”

With DOGE now requiring the Treasury to properly code every transaction, the era of untraceable multi-trillion-dollar payments could be coming to an end. The transparency measures will not only safeguard taxpayer dollars but also restore confidence in how the government manages its finances.

As Musk's DOGE project continues its deep dive into federal spending, more revelations are expected, potentially saving taxpayers billions and forcing a long-overdue reckoning with wasteful government practices.

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