President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on Tuesday to federal agencies directing the leaders of executive departments to display “radical transparency” regarding “wasteful spending” by the federal government.
The White House released Trump’s “Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending” memorandum on Tuesday with a warning that the U.S. government is currently spending “too much money on programs, contracts, and grants that do not promote the interests of the American people.”
“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest,” Trump added. “The American people have seen their tax dollars used to fund the passion projects of unelected bureaucrats rather than to advance the national interest.”
The 47th president noted that American taxpayers “have a right” to know how the U.S. government has “wasted their hard-earned wages” prior to the Trump administration. In light of that “right,” Trump directed the leaders of the executive departments and agencies to “take all appropriate actions to make public” the full details regarding every program, grant, contract, or other obligation that has been terminated by the administration.
In Tuesday’s memorandum, Trump instructed federal agencies to “ensure that such publication occurs in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the underlying contract, grant, or other award.”
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The president’s memorandum to the leaders of executive departments and agencies comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have continued to expose waste and reduce spending throughout the federal government.
In a fact sheet issued by the White House in support of Tuesday’s memorandum, the Trump administration emphasized that the president promised during the 2024 campaign to “return power” to American citizens by “cleaning out the Deep State, firing rogue bureaucrats and career politicians, and targeting government corruption.”
The White House shared multiple examples of “wasteful spending” under the previous administration, including billions of dollars on electric vehicle charging stations, $50 million in an environmental justice grant to an organization that claims “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine,” $4.6 million sent to foreign organizations to promote LGBTQ projects, $20 billion “parked at a financial institution by the Biden Administration to fund partisan pet projects,” and $1.9 billion that was “misplaced” by the Biden-Harris administration.
The White House stated, “The Trump Administration is aggressively investigating Biden-era programs that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on inefficient and politically-driven projects, including canceling unnecessary government contracts and grants that do not serve the national interest.”