President Donald Trump issued an unsmiling warning to bureaucrats on Tuesday, ordering that leaders of government agencies begin to be ‘radically transparent’ about spending.
The White House published a memo entitled ‘Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending’ on Tuesday afternoon, directed at the heads of executive departments and agencies.
The memo begins by arguing that the American government ‘spends 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,’ the note continues. ‘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 American people have a right to see how the Federal Government has wasted their hard-earned wages.’
Trump continued the memo by ordering that all heads of executive departments and agencies must ‘take all appropriate actions to make public, to the maximum extent permitted by law…the complete details of every terminated program, cancelled contract, terminated grant, or any other discontinued obligation of Federal funds.’
‘Agencies shall 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,’ Trump continued.
The memo came as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission continues to audit government agencies with a mission to reduce waste. On Monday night, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on ‘Hannity’ to express support for DOGE’s audits.
‘[L]isten to the words from those Democrat politicians, you would think you are listening to President Trump, Elon Musk and our entire administration, who are saying the exact same things that Democrat politicians promised the American people they would do for decades,’ Leavitt said. ‘President Trump is just the first president in our lifetimes to actually do it.’
‘And now you see the Democrat Party and the mainstream media spiraling out of control about a very simple promise: rooting out waste, fraud and abuse from our federal bureaucracy,’ she continued. ‘This is a promise President Trump campaigned on. He is now delivering on it.’