$1.9b mystery solved: Allegedly misplaced by Biden administration, DOGE finds and recovers lost taxpayer money

The department of government efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led group tasked with eliminating wasteful spending, announced on Friday that it had recovered $1.9 billion that the former US President Joe Biden administration allegedly misplaced.
The funds, originally allocated to the department of housing and urban development (HUD), had been earmarked for financial services administration but were no longer needed due to procedural inefficiencies.
“$1.9 billion of HUD money was just recovered after being misplaced during the Biden administration due to a broken process. These funds were earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed,” DOGE said in a post on X.
HUD secretary Scott Turner worked alongside DOGE to rectify the issue, leading to the de-obligation of the funds, which have now been made available for other uses by the US Treasury.
The announcement comes a day after Turner unveiled the formation of a DOGE task force within HUD to ensure greater financial oversight and efficiency.
“We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural, and urban communities across America,” Turner said in a video posted on X. He also revealed that his team had already identified $260 million in savings just two days prior.
DOGE has been actively investigating government spending and has flagged billions of dollars in questionable expenditures. Among its recent findings, environmental protection agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin said that with DOGE’s assistance, he had cancelled a Biden-era $50 million environmental justice grant awarded to an organization advocating that “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.”
Zeldin further revealed that under the Biden administration, the EPA had sent $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer, which has since declared bankruptcy. The entire amount was provided upfront rather than being distributed as school buses were produced, raising concerns over financial mismanagement.
The revelations underscore DOGE’s role in uncovering and rectifying fiscal inefficiencies, as the agency continues its efforts to ensure responsible government spending.