Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are being squandered on waste, fraud, and abuse each year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shockingly claimed in a recent interview.
Somewhere between 5-10% of the total federal budget gets gobbled up by wrongdoers each year, Bessent said, citing data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
“If we can narrow that number, President Trump asked for a $500 billion increase in the defense budget to fortify the 10 to 20 years of neglect,” Bessent told journalist Christopher Rufo in a recent interview.
“If we need to flex up our military budget, if we can get rid of this waste, fraud, and abuse, we can finance a safer, sounder US with that, without taking on more debt. Sounds like a pretty good outcome to me.”
A GAO analysis found that between $233 billion and $521 billion was lost annually due to fraud during fiscal years 2018 through 2022.
Since fiscal year 2003, improper payments — separate from fraud — have likely cost taxpayers about $2.8 trillion, the GAO also found.
Federal spending has jumped dramatically in the time since the GAO study was conducted, meaning fraudulent expenditures could’ve shot up in the time since as well.
Washington spent about $7.01 trillion in fiscal year 2025 and ran a deficit of about $1.8 trillion. Interest payments on the $38 trillion national debt totaled about $970 billion, more than what the US spends on its military.
Last week, Trump declared that he would like Congress to prepare a $1.5 trillion military budget due to “troubled and dangerous times” on the global stage.
Trump had tapped tech tycoon Elon Musk to helm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was tasked with tackling wasteful government spending.
Musk departed that role this past spring, and DOGE has since wound down.
Hellbound and Down 