Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa touted billions of dollars in savings Thursday, exclusively telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that a future rescissions package could add even more.
Ernst presented Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested spending cuts that could save over $2 trillion in a letter in November 2024 when they were appointed to co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, told the DCNF that the government has currently slashed $15 billion in wasteful spending since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
“I am proud to have led the Senate DOGE Caucus in racking up more than $15 billion worth of savings for the American people and I am just getting started,” Ernst said. “The days of bureaucrats ‘working’ from their bubble bath are over and hardworking folks will no longer see their tax dollars fund Sesame Street in Iraq, the California Crazy Trains, or partisan propaganda at NPR.”
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The biggest portion of the savings came from a $9 billion rescissions package that primarily targeted the United States Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Trump administration accounted for another $4 billion in savings after it yanked further federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project, which had gone $95 billion over budget, in July.
Ernst requested that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy consider yanking $14 billion from other projects she described as “boondoggles” in a letter sent Aug. 5, citing a July 30 report listing those that were either five or more years behind schedule or $1 billion over budget.
Ernst also touted efforts to address “taxpayer-funded union time” (TFUT), which cost taxpayers at least $135 million in fiscal year 2019, according to Ernst. The system had been abused, including an instance where one employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used TFUT to start a real estate business in Florida while purportedly working elsewhere.
Ernst also highlighted savings from addressing issues with telework by federal employees and unused office space and buildings owned or leased by the federal government.
Ernst told the DCNF she had no intention of stopping, adding that additional wasteful spending or troubled programs, including the items she listed in the July 30 report, should be targets for a future rescissions package.
“There is a lot more waste, fraud, and abuse that I will soon be putting on the chopping block,” Ernst said. “As I have always said, if you cannot find waste in Washington, there is only one reason – you did not look!”
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