Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Florida returned $878 million to the federal government after trying for years to return the money. After meeting with Elon Musk and Department of Government Efficiency officials, they finalized the transaction.
He said the funds were returned due to “ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration.”
“For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration — but they couldn’t even figure out how to accept it,” DeSantis posted on X. “Today, I met with @elonmusk and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the same day. Other states should follow Florida in supporting DOGE’s efforts!”
An email from DeSantis’s office to the Treasury Department said the state is continuing to look for surplus federal funding to give back to the government.
“At the direction of Governor DeSantis and following his meeting with Elon Musk today, the State of Florida is formally returning $878,112,000 in taxpayer dollars to the federal government as part of DOGE’s efforts,” the email said. “We will also continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funding granted to Florida and determine if further refunds can be made.”
The Florida governor said he hopes the move serves “as a model for other states to follow.”
Musk reacted to the news on his social media platform. “Almost a billion dollars of your taxpayer money saved,” Musk said.
DeSantis announced Florida’s DOGE task force last month. He said the task force would audit the state’s education system, along with state and local government. He added that artificial intelligence and IT technicians would be used to accomplish his government-slimming goals.
TRACKING WHAT DOGE IS DOING ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
“Florida has set the standard for fiscally conservative governance, and our new Florida DOGE task force will do even more to serve the people of Florida,” DeSantis said.
“It will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat,” he added.
