As President Trump marks his 100th day in office on Tuesday, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) says that it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, including several high-profile cuts that have been highlighted over the past few months,
Fox News reports.
One of the most talked about DOGE targets in Trump's first term was spending at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the Senate DOGE Caucus Chairwoman, who says she speaks to Musk about spending cuts every few days, published a list of projects and programs she says the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped fund across the years.
Ernst highlighted that the agency "authorized a whopping $20 million to create a ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq."
Under the Biden administration, USAID awarded $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called "Ahlan Simsim Iraq" in an effort to "promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups."
Several more examples of questionable spending have been uncovered at USAID, including more than $900,000 to a "Gaza-based terror charity" called Bayader Association for Environment and Development and a $1.5 million program slated to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities."
Fox News Digital previously reported that nearly 15,000 grants worth $60 billion are set to be eliminated, according to internal documents. The grants amount to about 90% of foreign aid contracts and come after a review on spending by the State Department.
DOGE's efforts at USAID did not come without opposition, including a federal judge in Maryland who ruled that the moves were unconstitutional. In March, a federal appeals court granted the Trump administration's motion to extend a stay allowing DOGE to continue operating at USAID.
