The Department of Government Efficiency announced Tuesday that it has canceled more than 200,000 government credit cards, according to a post on X.
DOGE, overseen by White House advisor Elon Musk, mentioned on Feb. 18 that it was collaborating with agencies to simplify the credit card accounts and reduce administrative costs. It was estimated that the federal government held 4.6 million credit cards and had 90 million unique transactions in the fiscal year 2024, according to USA Today.
A week later, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to initiate a “transformation in Federal spending,” which called for a 30-day freeze on agency employee credit cards.
On Tuesday, DOGE released its three-week update on canceled credit cards, highlighting that the pilot program is auditing 16 agencies. The Health and Human Services Department and the Department of the Interior reported significant progress in the past week.
Weekly Credit Card Update!
Pilot program with 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards. After 3 weeks, >200,000 cards have been de-activated. Great progress this past week by @HHSGov @Interior
As a reminder, at the start of the audit, there were ~4.6M active… pic.twitter.com/xZaZJ51AOV
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 11, 2025
Trump and Musk have long supported significant reductions in government spending, including proposals for laying off federal employees, USA Today noted.
The credit card freeze order includes an exemption for employees using the cards for disaster relief, natural disaster response, or other critical services as determined by the agency head.
Civilian employees at the Department of Defense now face a $1 limit on their government travel cards, according to a memo dated March 5. Travel related to military operations or permanent changes of station will be exempt, as per the memo.
Earlier this month, Trump praised Musk’s efforts to expose wasteful government spending. Musk remains a controversial figure in U.S. politics, and Trump encouraged Musk to continue his work.
“ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE IT GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!”
“Will do, Mr. President!” Musk replied.
On Tuesday, Trump also announced that attacks on Tesla dealerships would be treated as domestic terrorism, coinciding with his display of a red Tesla at the White House.
“I’ll do everything I can to stop them,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about the attacks, standing alongside Elon Musk. “We already know who some of them are, and we’re going to address this seriously.”
Trump emphasized that such attacks on any American company, not just Tesla, are unacceptable.
