The head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, claimed to have been informed that people without a Social Security number or even a temporary identification number get an annual entitlement payment of roughly $100 billion.
Musk clarified what the DOGE Team and US Treasury had collectively agreed upon in recent days in a statement sent on Saturday via his X account.
Remember how DOGE jumped into action to reduce expenses across agencies, including the US Treasury Department and the US Agency for International Development, USAID, with the support of US President Donald Trump?
Musk remarked, "Yesterday (Friday), I was told that there are currently over $100 billion per year of entitlement payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number," in reference to DOGE's efforts at the Treasury Department. This is really suspicious if true.
Everyone in the room agreed that around half of that amount—that is, $50 billion annually or $1 billion weekly—is clear-cut, blatant fraud when I asked Treasury employees for an estimate.
"This is completely crazy and needs to be dealt with right now," he said. This occurs while a DOGE is attempting to gain access to payment records from the US Treasury Department.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer barred DOGE from accessing Treasury Department documents that contained the personal financial information of millions of Americans as of early Saturday morning.
USAID was recently demolished by DOGE, which affected all of its more than 10,000 employees worldwide, with the exception of about 600 who were put on leave.