In the March 25 letter to the editor, “It’s getting better” there is a claim that “… the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has found over $180 billion of fraud, theft and insane money-laundering …” I am very curious where this number came from, and what supports that claim.

Doge.gov says savings are coming from a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”

That’s different from fraud and theft, especially if the grants and programs canceled, and the workforce reduced, happen to be for things you value. For example, veterans’ services, parks, cancer research, children’s health care, environmental protections, infrastructure projects.

The doge.gov site puts the estimated savings at $115 billion (March 25). DOGE has admitted to errors in the numbers posted; other claimed savings have been proven to be false. Given numerous ongoing legal challenges, we don’t know which cuts were made legally and will be permanent.

We’d all like government to be more efficient and less wasteful. But let’s be honest, and acknowledge cuts to grants, programs and services. If you want those cuts, have elected representatives openly debate and vote on them.

And, if you genuinely intend to eliminate fraud and abuse, why gut departments at the Internal Revenue Service that are self-funding, and bring in massive amounts of revenue?

And why not start your search for waste and fraud in the Department of Defense, which has failed seven annual budget audits in a row?

CAROL MERWIN
Astoria