DOGE has canceled more than 200,000 government-issued credit cards across multiple federal agencies as part of a sweeping effort to reduce waste and inefficiency.
This move comes as the Elon Musk-led agency intensifies its campaign to identify unnecessary spending and streamline federal financial operations.
Weekly Credit Card Update! Pilot program with 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards, DOGE posted on its X account. After three weeks, more than 200,000 cards have been deactivated. Great progress this past week by @HHSGov [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] @Interior [U.S. Department of the Interior].
The audit revealed that at the time of its launch, over 4.6 million active credit cards were in circulation across the participating agencies. The latest cancellations mark significant progress, though DOGE noted that much work remains to be done.
So still more work to do, the agency added.
While the exact cost savings from the deactivated credit cards remain unclear, the scale of spending has been massive. DOGE previously reported that these 4.6 million federal credit cards were used for 90 million transactions in the last fiscal year alone, amounting to approximately $40 billion in government expenditures.
Breakdown of Canceled Cards
According to DOGE’s findings, a total of 204,801 credit cards have been terminated. This includes: 171,120 travel credit cards, 33,681 purchase credit cards
These cancellations affected a broad range of federal agencies, including: General Services Administration (GSA), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor, Small Business Administration (SBA), Department of Education, Department of the Interior, Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Agriculture (USDA), NAS, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development
The Interior Department saw the most significant impact, with nearly 20,000 purchase cards and 40,000 travel cards canceled. The Department of Health and Human Services followed, with more than 43,700 travel credit cards and 2,235 purchase cards deactivated.
Interestingly, the State Department was the only agency of the 16 included in the audit that did not have any credit cards canceled. The reason for this exemption remains unclear.
Musk’s Push for Fiscal Reform
Elon Musk, who was appointed to lead DOGE earlier this year, has made cutting government waste a top priority. Last month, he attended President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, where he outlined his vision to find $1 trillion in savings through government efficiency programs.
During the meeting, Musk stressed the urgency of addressing the $36.5 trillion national debt and what he described as a growing financial crisis in the U.S. government.
If this continues, the country will go, become de facto bankrupt, Musk warned.
He pointed to the U.S. running $2 trillion in annual deficits and argued that drastic measures are needed to prevent economic collapse.
America simply cannot sustain this level of debt. DOGE is not an optional thing—it is central to reforming the U.S. economy, Musk emphasized.
SBA Under Fire for Questionable Loans
Beyond its crackdown on government credit cards, DOGE has also uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious small business loans issued to ineligible recipients, further highlighting the extent of financial mismanagement.
Over the weekend, DOGE revealed that nearly 5,600 loans totaling $312 million were issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time the loan was granted.
These loans were disbursed in 2020 and 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising serious concerns about how these funds were approved and where they ultimately ended up. It remains unclear what these loans were used for and whether any of the money can be recovered.