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President Trump and his Cabinet secretaries detailed their cost-cutting measures at a meeting Monday, highlighting the wasteful spending and fraudulent contracts the administration has halted.
The meeting, the third public gathering of Mr. Trump and his whole Cabinet, also included Elon Musk, who is spearheading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting initiative.
DOGE has drawn criticism over its downsizing efforts with opponents saying the moves have crippled government agencies and laid off thousands of workers. Mr. Musk is an advisor to the president but is not a Senate-confirmed Cabinet-level official.
Mr. Trump acknowledged during the meeting that the efforts to slash spending may not be “popular.”
“I have no idea how it plays out in the public … but it’s something that has to be done,” he said.
Several Cabinet officials detailed wasteful spending and fraudulent contracts, prompting Mr. Trump to exclaim that “the numbers are beyond our wildest expectations.”
Mr. Musk said at one point the Small Business Association discovered it had awarded loans to children. He said the SBA awarded three loans totaling $30,000 to 11-year-olds and a 9-month old who got a $100,000 loan.
“That’s a very precious baby,” Mr. Musk joked.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted a $2 billion grant provided by the Biden administration last year to a climate group founded by progressive Georgia politician Stacey Abrams.
President Biden introduced several rules affecting home appliance use and targeting efficiency standards. As part of that initiative, $2 billion in tax money was handed over in fiscal 2024 to the Power Forward Communities, an organization linked to Ms. Abrams. The group received only $100 in tax money in 2023, according to Mr. Zeldin.
Mr. Zeldin said the $2 billion was cut as part of an overall effort that slashed $22 billion in government contracts.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said a group in his agency shelled out $830 million for “surveys.” He did not say what the surveys did or what they were meant to accomplish.
“The surveys came back and it was a survey like eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper with ten questions that anyone’s, you know, child in junior high could put together or AI could have done. $830 million so that’s one that we’ve stopped,” Mr. Burgum said.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins ticked off a list of canceled spending including a $300,000 contract for “food justice” education for queer and transgender farmers in San Francisco and New York; a $600,000 studying the menstrual cycle of transgender men and another contract promoting diversity equity and inclusion in the pest-management industry.
“Again, these are nonsensical. It makes zero sense to use taxpayer dollars to fund these. I know these are just a few examples of the hundreds we’ve found,” she said.
The disclosure of Power Forward Communities receiving $2 billion prompted some lawmakers to look more closely at taxpayer funds being doled out to groups affiliated with Ms. Abrams.
Rep. Jason Smith, Missouri Republican and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter Monday to the IRS seeking an investigation and ultimately revocation of the tax-exempt status for New Georgia Project, another group affiliated with Ms. Abrams.
The New Georgia Project was founded by Ms. Abrams in 2013.
In January, the group was fined by the Georgia State Ethics Commission for failing to disclose $4.2 million in campaign contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures during Ms. Abrams’ failed 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
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