Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been making headlines with its aggressive cost-cutting measures. The team, which was created to reduce federal spending, has already identified over $1 trillion in potential savings by targeting what it considers to be bureaucratic waste and fraud.
However, these cuts have been controversial. Critics argue that the rapid pace of changes and the lack of transparency could lead to unintended consequences, including potential conflicts of interest given Musk’s business ties1. Additionally, there have been legal challenges and concerns about the impact on federal programs and employees.
Musk and his 20-year-old data mining minions have been firing essential government employees at a breakneck pace and not understanding that the brain drain will cause a gap in services that many Americans will start to feel very soon. Let’s start in heartland where America’s farmers were strong fans of President Donald Trump but Musk’s cuts are already causing them to wonder if they made a mistake in supporting the president.
FARMERS
We know that Musk was quick to want to dismantle U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a costly give-away program that saw no return to the USA. But it is an undisputable fact that farmers in the Midwest are wondering if they will ever get paid for the food that the USAID sends to countries that face starvation. Moreover, the combination of the future of the USAID along with tariffs could cause many farmers to close shop.
A number of farmers recall in the first Trump administration the government paid out nearly 19 billion dollars to farmers who could no longer sell their products to China. In over 400 counties in the United States that identify as faming counties Trump was overwhelmingly supported but now they have a real fear that Trump and Doge are not seeing their pain.
The farmers are banking on the Food for Peace program, under which the government buys and distributes American crops to help fight hunger around the world. The concept of “Soft Power,” is a product of President Ronald Reagan and later George Bush who were a big part of expanding USAID.
“For 70 years, Kansas and American farmers have played an active role in sending their commodities to feed malnourished and starving populations around the world. This free gift from the American people is more than food. It’s diplomacy and feeds the most vulnerable communities,” Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., said in a statement.
HEALTH CARE AND THE POOR
The letter, led by Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey (D) and Elizabeth Warren (D), expressed alarm that Musk and his DOGE team gained access to sensitive payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“Masquerading as a false crusade against waste, fraud, and abuse, Musk appears intent to break the programs that seniors, people with disabilities, children, and families rely on to get their health care,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was shared first with The Hill.
Last week, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accessed systems at CMS in its far-reaching quest to uncover examples of waste, fraud and abuse.
In a post on X, Musk, who owns the social media platform, said he believes the amount of fraud in federal entitlement programs “exceeds the combined sum of every private scam.”
But ending fraud, waste and abuse is a focus of every federal agency, and, to date, DOGE has focused on slashing staff and spending seemingly indiscriminately, without concern for consequences.
“We write to say no to Elon Musk and DOGE, and demand hands off Medicare and Medicaid,” lawmakers wrote in the letter. “We strongly oppose any efforts by Musk—or anyone else in your administration—cutting or damaging these vital programs. Medicare and Medicaid must not be raided to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Medicaid is a prime target for Republicans, who see it as a program rife with fraud and abuse and have long sought to rein in its spending.
The joint federal and state-funded program provides health coverage to more than 72 million low-income Americans.
The Democrats’ letter comes as a budget blueprint from House Republicans called for the Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in savings. The bulk of those savings will likely come from Medicaid changes.
Musk took an axe to the Department of Health and Human Services cutting thousands of jobs at HHS. It is the National Institute of Heath that is under the HHS banner that provides research dollars to universities most in Republican led states. A case in point is funding reductions to the NIH came as big blow to the University of Alabama at Birmingham who is a major recipient of that money, which has helped make it the state’s largest employer.
The NIH research dollars flow to Tulane and LSU prompting Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican Senator who represents the state to sound the alarm. “It’ll be very difficult for them to conduct this research. And so, of course, I want people in Louisiana to benefit from research dollars, and for it to not all go to Massachusetts and California,” Cassidy said. “So I am in active conversation with my folks back home, and am researching the issue.”
RED STATES BENEFT FROM BLUE STATES MONEY
Another undisputable fact according to the United States Treasury Department is that among the top 20 states that take more money from the federal government than they sent in tax payments, 13 are solidly red states that voted for Trump in the last three elections. According to the conservative Rockefeller Institute of Government the top five states (and nine of the top 10) that send more money to the Treasury Department than they receive voted for Democrats in the last three presidential elections.
