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Christian Science Monitor

Christian Science Monitor

US Politics

US Politics

Musk aims to slash deficits. Trump has put key solutions out of reach.

Christian Science Monitor
Summary
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78% Informative

Elon Musk has targeted entire agencies for closure, seized control of payment systems, ousted career civil servants, and pressured employees to retire early.

Musk claims that he’s uncovered a mountain of waste and fraud in spending and that his efforts to rightsize the bureaucracy will slash the fiscal deficit.

Musk has previously promised to cut $1 trillion to $2 trillion in annual spending from a roughly $6.8 trillion budget.

Musk ’s team has begun analyzing the $1.5 trillion -a-year payments system at the Department of Health and Human Services for these programs.

In 2023 , the GAO identified around $236 billion in “improper payments” by the federal government, of which Medicare and Medicaid made up more than $100 billion .