Elon Musk is trying to save the government money by finding waste, fraud, and abuse.
He usually must go through the budget with a fine-tooth comb to find savings.
But Elon Musk got one historic offer from Ron DeSantis that left Democrats speechless.
Florida to return almost $1 billion in unspent funds to DOGE
States were showered with cash during the pandemic by the federal government to keep them from having to make painful budget cuts.
Most states managed to burn through this money.
Former President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion American Rescue Plan functioned as a bailout for blue states and Democrat cities that ran up massive deficits with tax-and-spend policies.
Pandemic relief money was redirected to build schools, highways, and parks by local governments that were suddenly flush in cash.
Responsible states sat on nearly $100 billion in pandemic relief that they did not spend.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he was returning more than $878 million in federal funds after a meeting with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DeSantis revealed that he tried to return the money to the Biden administration, but they did not know how to accept it.
“For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration—but they couldn’t even figure out how to accept it,” DeSantis wrote on X. Today, I met with [Elon Musk] and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the same day. Other states should follow Florida in supporting DOGE’s efforts!”
An email from the Florida Governor’s Office said that the state was searching for more unspent federal money to return to DOGE.
“We will also continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funding granted to Florida and determine if further refunds can be made,” the Governor’s office email stated.
Responsible spending under DeSantis allowed Florida to return nearly one billion dollars to the federal government.
“Almost a billion dollars of your taxpayer money saved,” Musk replied to DeSantis’ post.
Florida searches for more savings with its DOGE program
Musk’s work auditing the government for waste, fraud, and abuse has inspired states to launch their own DOGE efforts.
DeSantis announced in February that Florida started a DOGE program to eliminate unnecessary state agencies and wasteful spending.
“Florida has set the standard for fiscally conservative governance, and our new Florida DOGE task force will do even more to serve the people of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement. “It will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat.”
Texas, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Iowa have created state-level DOGE programs.
Ron DeSantis continues to set the gold standard for fiscal responsibility after he returned wasteful pandemic relief money to the federal government.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
