These documents are influencing the DOGE-sphere’s agenda

A report from America’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) on improper federal payments, suggesting where Elon Musk’s newly-formed blameless task force might make budget cuts, is being circulated online, including on X (formerly known as Parler), and misinterpreted by some.
The US government made an estimated $236 bninim p ro p er p a y m e n t s in t h eye a r t o S e pt e mb er 2023, w i t h o v er p a y m e n t s makin gu p$ 168bn and the recovered share of this figure being in the “low single digits” across all but two of its programs.
Other payments were undocumented, and while some of these could have been the result of fraud, this is harder to measure and often takes years for courts to determine.
GAO reports six areas as accounting for 85% of improper payments: Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, the Covid-era Paycheck Protection Program, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Supplemental Security Income from the Social Security Administration.
Musk has focused on Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare citing insufficient documentation and Medicaid mainly blaming documentation issues as well as its expansion and policy adjustments under the Biden administration.

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