Elon Musk-led DOGE announces de-activation of 200,000 government credit cards

The Government Efficiency Department declared this week via X that it has terminated over 200,000 government credit cards.Under the supervision of billionaire and White House advisor Elon Musk, DOGE announced on February 18 its collaboration with agencies to streamline credit card accounts and decrease administrative expenses. The organisation noted that the federal government maintained 4.6 million credit cards, processing 90 million distinct transactions in fiscal year 2024.Following this, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating a “transformation in Federal spending”, implementing a 30-day suspension of agency employee credit cards.The list of organisations affected by credit card cancellations encompasses numerous federal bodies, including the GSA, OPM, Labour Department, SBA, Education Department, Interior Department, Treasury Department, Commerce Department, EPA, USDA, NASA, HHS, Homeland Security, Social Security Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.The Interior Department experienced the most significant impact, with approximately 20,000 purchase cards and 40,000 travel cards being terminated. Following closely, HHS had over 43,700 travel credit cards and 2,235 purchase cards withdrawn from service. On the contrary, amongst the 16 federal agencies, the State Department stands alone as the only organisation that maintained its credit card services without any cancellations, according to Fox news.On Tuesday, DOGE provided its three-week progress report on cancelled credit cards. “Pilot program with 16 agencies to audit unused/unneeded credit cards. After 3 weeks, >200,000 cards have been de-activated,” it said.The credit card suspension is reportedly causing operational difficulties for agencies, as per USA Today reports. Trump and Musk have consistently advocated reducing government expenditure, including the dismissal of over 100,000 federal staff.The credit card suspension order excludes employees “utilizing such credit cards for, disaster relief or natural disaster response benefits or operations or other critical services as determined by the Agency Head”. However, various news sources have documented the freeze’s impact on routine agency operations.The Food and Drug Administration staff reported difficulties in procuring laboratory supplies essential for ensuring consumer safety, according to Wired and the Washington Post. The agency confirmed to the Post its continuation of mission-critical activities.Meanwhile, Department of Defense civilian employees faced a $1 limit on government travel credit cards, as per a March 5 memo. The memo exempts travel “in direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station”.According to Wired and the Post, the $1 credit card limit has affected various other agencies.