Trump’s DHS Saves $12 Billion by Slashing Waste and Exposing Taxpayer Abuse
The Department of Homeland Security announced that a whopping $12 billion in savings have been made as a result of a contract review process and other cuts over the past two hundred days.
Secretary Kristi Noem is personally reviewing and signing off on or declining any contract over $100,000, which resulted in a $10.7 billion reduction, the department says.
Noem is now reviewing over 5,000 contracts, and DHS says decisions are made within a day.
“It is stunning that for years, career bureaucrats were unilaterally signing off on hundred-million-dollar contracts leading to massive waste, fraud, and abuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.
“While lobbyists and special interests are fighting for government contracts, Secretary Noem is fighting for the American taxpayer,” Noem said.
“In less than seven months, she’s saved the U.S. taxpayer $12 billion—that’s more than $50 million a DAY since she took office,” Noem continued.
Fox News reported that in addition, the move of “eliminating career bureaucrats” resulted in $1.3 billion in cuts, without taking out roles that had a public safety element, according to DHS.
Another notable cut was scrapping Air Force reheatable coffee cups with a price tag of nearly $1,300 each, according to the Air Force Times.
When it comes to money coming into the department, the recent passage of the Trump-backed reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” included $165 billion toward DHS.
That included $46.5 billion for the southern border wall, $14.4 billion for removing people from the U.S., $12 billion to pay back states that had to foot the bill for the border crisis, and funding for new ICE and Border Patrol agents.
“President Trump’s signing the One Big Beautiful Bill is a win for law and order and the safety and security of the American people,” Noem said in a July 4 press release.
“This $165 billion in funding will help the Department of Homeland Security and our brave law enforcement further deliver on President Trump’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” she continued.
As spending cuts were happening across the federal government earlier in the Trump administration under the Department of Government Efficiency, many Democrats were critical of the efforts.
“Since hijacking the U.S. Digital Service to establish DOGE, Elon Musk’s unqualified staff have fanned out across the Federal government,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a March 20 statement.
“They have embedded themselves within departments and agencies, including DHS, to seize sensitive data, purge civil servants, and gut programs with no regard to the critical services they provide everyday Americans.”