DOGE Deactivates 523,000 Credit Cards

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published May 30, 2025 at 4:41 AM EDT


The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has announced the cancellation of more than half a million government credit cards amid its crackdown on federal spending.

Why It Matters

DOGE first announced on February 18 that it was working with agencies to simplify federal credit card accounts and reduce administrative costs, estimating the federal government had some 4.6 million credit cards and 90 million unique transactions in the 2024 fiscal year. President Donald Trump later issued an executive order calling for a 30-day freeze on agency employee credit cards.

While proponents of DOGE's cuts say they eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in government spending, critics argue that some cuts have hampered operations at federal agencies, including ordering essential supplies and paying for government-related services and contracts.

What To Know

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, DOGE said it had deactivated 523,000 credit cards following a 13-week audit. The cancellations include credit cards from various federal agencies—including NASA, the General Services Administration; the Office of Personnel Management; and the departments of the Treasury, Education, Interior, Commerce, Agriculture and State. "We are now expanding the program to more agencies, as there is much more work to do," DOGE wrote.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/doge-deactivates-523000-credit-cards-2078807

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Then they can go back to doing "cash advances" which is what we did before the government credit cards were available for travel (lodging/transportation/MIE). Literally pulling cash out of a till in the fiscal office of our Admin branch.

[Initech]

1. This is fucking criminal. How much is Elon benefitting from this?

[mucifer]

2. Putin is loving this

[LiberalArkie]

3. I bet ICE and FBI, Postal Carriers are going to love paying for the gas for their vehicles them selves and hoping they

get paid back in time before their checking accounts get over drawn.

[riversedge]

4. I can imagine this will make work more difficult for many agencies.

[AloeVera]

6. Well, yes. But the goal is to hamper and discredit government.

To dismantle or at least shrink it to nearly nothing. Then parcel it out to the corporations and oligarchs.

Musk has done a fine job of that.

[not fooled]

5. Incredibly stupid.

There is no widespread fraud or misuse of these cards. Just another way to f*ck up the federal government.

The felon rapist is responsible for this. Too bad not enough 'Muricans seem to get the connection.

[FakeNoose]

7. Exactly right - the government credit cards were the smart answer to all the waste and fraud

Now ... we're back to waste and fraud all over again.

They think this is punishing Democrats somehow. Why is that?

[Deminpenn]

8. It's naive to think these cards aren't used for personal expenses

I know it happened at my workplace when I was there. There is honestly no need for them. The federal government knows how to transfer money to pay its debts. They do it every day by electromic direct deposit.

Cash advances for travel work just fine. Activity travel offices know how to do that once a traveller presents their properly signed travel orders. I hated to travel and avoided it as much as possible, but the basic per diem rate always covered my expenses. In fact, federal workers don't even have to travel anymore with video conferencing widely available.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. But that is not the issue

because in reality, just like the bullshit of "VOTER FRAUD!!11!!!1!!!!", there are only a tiny tiny fraction of employees "misusing a government credit card". It's all a manufactured thing.

I traveled ALOT during my career (not just down to D.C. metro and back but to at least 17 other states for various training courses and conferences) - meaning all around the country, and if anything, the extra time needed to deal with cash in an office (maintaining/tracking outlays, ensuring the cash is in a safe with a log of safe entry, need to periodically go to the bank to get more, etc) made it WASTEFUL. And let's not talk about the occasional fiscal person "dipping out of the till".

Copies of the monthly credit card bills were sent to BOTH the employee and the agency's local Administrative Branch official, so they were aware of every transaction.

For people in my agency who went overseas for 2 - 3 week trips, which included going to multiple countries (as multiple trip legs), carrying cash (or "traveler's checks" ) was always a dicey issue. Most of those employees used their own personal cards and submitted receipts for reimbursement. American Express stopped issuing traveler's checks although a few other banking institutions (Western Union and apparently CapitalOne) do still issue those, not all overseas places honor them or can convert them to cash.

This whole thing is nothing more than a dangerous and ruinous farce by a bunch of insane non-government people who have no idea what government does (and don't care), imposing nonsense on government because of this dangerous hallucination of some fictional "DEEP STATE".

[Deminpenn]

10. It's exactly the oppsite

There are very few instances where a government employee needs a government issued credit card.

When I travelled, the travel office made my airline, rental car and hotel reservations then all I needed to do was present my orders. The advance I got was the basic per diem rate, 25-30 $s times the number of travel days.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. "There are very few instances where a government employee needs a government issued credit card."

It depends on the agency. My agency hnd Inspectors and Investigators traveling all over the state - more so in later years when they closed satellite offices "to save money and do more with less" and "consolidated" people to just a couple of the bigger ones or our main office in Philly.

That meant more of what they called "road trips" and they were GOVing and staying in little motels and hotels during those 1 or 2 week trips doing inspections.