Elon Musk and Donald Trump Will Love Slashing This Government Agency's Waste

Special Report

Published: November 13, 2024 11:10 am

Yesterday, news broke that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) focused on radically restructuring federal spending during Donald Trump’s presidency. What parts of government will be some of the easiest targets?

Using data from the OMB, 24/7 Wall St. identified the government agencies wasting the most taxpayer money. The 13 federal agencies on this list are ranked by the dollar value of overpayments made in the government’s 2023 fiscal year. All supplemental data in this story also came from the OMB report. Among these agencies, overpayments range from about $16 million to nearly $99 billion.

While some of this money is recoverable, taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for much of that wasted spending. The agencies on this list recovered a reported $25.2 billion in improperly made payments in fiscal 2023, some share of which was paid in error in a previous year. Still, this amounts to only about 14% of the total overpayments made in 2023. (These are the companies that receive the most in government subsidies.)

Notably, government agencies themselves are not always directly responsible for overpayments. In seven of the 13 agencies on this list, 50% or more of the total value of overpayments in the last fiscal year were determined to have been outside of agency control. A small share of these cases are attributable to fraud.

These are the government agencies wasting the most taxpayer money.

13. Corporation for National and Community Service

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $16.0 million (4.2% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 100% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $220,000
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $383.4 million
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: AmeriCorps, Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program

12. Federal Communications Commission

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $85.1 million (1.5% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 18.5% within agency control; 81.5% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $85.1 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $5.6 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Universal Service Fund

11. Department of Defense

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $202.5 million (0.03% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 99.9% within agency control; 0.1% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $1.7 billion
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $621.2 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Military and civilian payroll, military retirement, travel pay

10. Office of Personnel Management

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $224.3 million (0.2% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 100% within agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $232.2 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $95.3 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Federal Retirement Services

9. Department of Education

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $471.9 million (0.2% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 80.9% within agency control; 19.1% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $215.3 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $221.6 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Federal Pell Grant Program, Title I grants, special education grants

8. Department of Transportation

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $526.9 million (0.7% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 100% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $11.0 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $75.5 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Federal Transit Administration, Federal Highway Administration

7. Department of Veterans Affairs

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $1.8 billion (5.0% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 96.9% within agency control; 3.1% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $642.2 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $36.0 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Community Care, pensions, medical contracts

6. Small Business Administration

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $3.6 billion (2.9% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 100% within agency controlOverpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $2.2 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $122.5 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Paycheck Protection Loan Program, disaster assistance loans

5. Department of Agriculture

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $8.5 billion (6.6% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 4.1% within agency control; 95.9% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $550.9 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $128.2 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Risk Management Agency, Commodity Credit Corporation, Food and Nutrition Service

4. Social Security Administration

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $11.1 billion (0.8% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 17.1% within agency control; 82.9% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $4.9 billion
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $1.3 trillion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Supplemental Security Income, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance

3. Department of Labor

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $24.7 billion (16.2% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 87.3% within agency control; 12.7% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $997.3 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $152.6 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Employment and Training Administration, Office of Workers’ Compensation

2. Treasury Department

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $25.0 billion (32.1% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 100% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $59.2 million
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $78.0 billion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Earned Income Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit

1. Department of Health and Human Services

Overpayments made in fiscal 2023: $98.7 billion (6.6% of agency spending)
Responsibility for overpayments in fiscal 2023: 0.3% within agency control; 99.7% outside of agency control
Overpayments recovered in fiscal 2023: $15.8 billion
Total agency spending in fiscal 2023: $1.5 trillion
Sub-agencies/programs overspending in fiscal 2023 include: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Administration for Children and Families

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts (Sponsor)

We’ve been writing about ways to make, save, and invest money for over 20 years. But some of the cash back credit card rewards today still make our jaws drop. There are $200 cash bonuses, 3% back on gas and groceries, $0 fees, and even some 5% rewards out there right now. For the average American that could mean hundreds, even thousands of dollars on rewards a year.

Don’t miss out on rewards this good, there is no saying how long they’ll last. Click here to see our top picks.

Read more: Special Report, government agencies wasting the most money, government overspending, government waste, national debt, Office of Management and Budget, waste fraud and abuse, wasted tax payer dollars, Tax & Finance

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.