Fact Sheets

# Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Requires Transparency for the American People About Wasteful Spending

The White House
February 18, 2025

PROMOTING TRANSPRENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum requiring radical transparency regarding wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars by the federal government.

- It requires all departments and agencies to disclose details about terminated programs, cancelled contracts, and discontinued grants to the fullest extent allowed by law.

PUTTING AN END TO WASTEFUL SPENDING: By signing this memorandum, President Trump recognizes that the American people have a right to see how the federal government has wasted their hard-earned wages.

- The United States government has wasted taxpayer dollars on programs, contracts, and grants that do not serve the American public’s interests.
- For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest.
- The Biden Administration spent billions on electric vehicle charging stations, yet only a fraction were completed.
- The Trump Administration recently canceled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.”
- Numerous USAID grants have come under review, including $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”
- The Biden Administration gave nearly $4.6 million to help foreign groups promote LGBT projects like drag shows and pride parades.
- The Trump Administration found $20 billion parked at a financial institution by the Biden Administration to fund partisan pet projects.
- President Trump’s Department of Education canceled $881 million in unnecessary contracts that were not benefiting students, including a $4.6 million contract just to coordinate Zoom and in-person meetings.
- President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already recovered $1.9 billion in taxpayer funds “misplaced” by the Biden Administration.
- The Government Accountability Office released a report last year estimating that the federal government “could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud.”

KEEPING HIS PROMISE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: President Trump campaigned on a promise to return power back to the American people by “cleaning out the Deep State, firing rogue bureaucrats and career politicians, and targeting government corruption.”

- President Trump recently signed a memorandum to stop last-minute collective bargaining agreements issued by the Biden Administration designed to constrain the incoming Trump Administration from reforming government.
- President Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to bring accountability and transparency to federal spending, ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and effectively.
- President Trump launched a 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, ensuring every new rule is justified by clear benefits for taxpayers.
- The Trump Administration is aggressively investigating Biden-era programs that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on inefficient and politically-driven projects, including canceling unnecessary government contracts and grants that do not serve the national interest.

## Related

- #### Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending

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- #### Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Stops Wasteful Grantmaking

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