MSNBC host Jose Diaz-Balart was stunned Tuesday when told that a cursory audit found $72 billion worth of waste in Social Security.
President Donald Trump appointed Leland Dudek, the head of the Social Security Administration’s anti-fraud office, as acting head of the agency after Michelle King resigned following a clash with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees. NBC News reporter Aaron Gilchrist told Diaz-Balart about just how much fraud an inspector general’s report found.
“There was an inspector general audit last year that showed, over an eight-year period, the Social Security Administration made almost $72 billion in improper payments, a little less than 1% of payments in that time period,” Gilchrist said. “Now, the report also says that most of these improper payments were overpayments, not payments to deceased people or people who didn’t qualify to receive these payments.”
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“At the same time, José, this effort by DOGE is to go through this agency, like every other, and try to weed out waste and fraud,” Gilchrist said.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 11 giving DOGE additional oversight over hiring government employees, slightly more than three weeks after he established the department within hours of taking office on Jan. 20.
The Trump administration announced plans for layoffs that targeted over 95% of USAID’s workforce on Feb. 6, days after USAID employees had a standoff over access to the agency’s headquarters with personnel from DOGE, the New York Times reported.
“Yeah, I mean, and also, $72 billion, and that’s without a comprehensive search. I mean, that’s — that’s significant,” a stunned Diaz-Balart said to Gilchrist.
The agency, overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, says on its website that it has saved taxpayers an estimated $55 billion in federal spending by eliminating unnecessary departments and programs since it was formed. Exactly 56% of respondents to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Feb. 5 supported President Donald Trump’s executive order to freeze most foreign aid programs while the administration reevaluated and realigned foreign aid spending.
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