Twice this week, Elon Musk has talked about cutting programs like Social Security and Medicare at odds with what President Trump and Republicans have said about safeguarding the programs. We’re going to be very careful with any interruption to benefits. In fact, only by tackling the waste and fraud in entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, can we actually preserve those programs for the future. In an interview earlier this week, Musk identified entitlement programs which make up the majority of federal spending as the big one to eliminate. Musk and his defenders have characterized much of Doge’s work as targeting costly waste and fraud. Now fraud is illegal, but so far the Justice Department hasn’t brought large scale criminal cases connected to the crimes Doge is alleging. Democrats say waste is shorthand for getting rid of programs the Trump administration disagrees with, and President Trump says Doge expects to cut about $1 trillion in federal spending, half of what was originally predicted. So far Dou says it’s been able to cut tens of billions of dollars, but fact checkers have found it to be much less than that. At the White House, I’m Amy Lou.
Nearly a billion dollars worth of grants potentially at risk for Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana health departments
Updated: 2:08 AM EDT Mar 31, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency is looking to ax nearly a billion dollars worth of grants intended for state health departments in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.This is according to a new dataset that was entered into DOGE’s website on March 23.The website’s wall of receipts, which showcases the department’s savings efforts, indicates that $867,801,623 intended for state-level health departments in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana is set to potentially be impacted.This includes $361,373,263 for the state of Ohio, $127,762,201 for the state of Kentucky and $378,666,159 for the state of Indiana.In a press conference on Thursday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed that he has already received notice of impending funding cuts from the federal government to the state’s health departments.”We have received notice of grants being canceled,” said Beshear. “It’s an unlawful cancelation, and we’ll challenge it. You know, these are contracts that we have. The contracts can only be terminated for cause, which means somebody did something wrong, and they’re trying to define cause as the pandemic’s over. That’s not a legal argument. And if we have to go to court, we will. But remember, these are signed contracts. These are promises that the federal government made, and they’re doing things like helping us have more people at our health clinics at a time when we’re seeing measles outbreaks out there, at a time when we’re worried about bird flu. It’s all an investment in our healthcare system, but those dollars have been appropriated by law that Congress passed, and a president or an executive can’t say, ‘We’re just not going to do it, we’re going to cancel them.'”These health department totals that were added to DOGE’s website on March 23 are distributed between 13 grants listed for the state of Kentucky, 15 different grants listed for the state of Ohio, and 18 grants listed for the state of Indiana. However, DOGE does not offer specifics on its website about what the grants were specifically intended for within the state health departments or when they may have been set to go out to the states.According to the wall of receipts, in Kentucky, $122,505,280 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, while $5,421,284 is being cut from grants that was set to go to the state’s Human Resources Cabinet. According to DOGE, all are grants that are typically awarded under the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services.In Ohio, $303,447,624 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Health, $32,577,014 is being cut from a grant that was set to go to the state’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, and $25,348,625 is being cut from a grant set to go to the state’s Department of Mental Health.Meanwhile in Indiana, $351,425,035 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Health, while $27,241,124 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Mental Health. DOGE did not offer further specifics about what services the grants were intended for within each department.However, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana’s state health departments were far from alone to face potential cuts on DOGE’s website. The wall of receipts lists grants for health departments in nearly every state in the country in the new batch of savings receipts that were posted onto the website on March 23. However, like those in the Tri-State, specific details beyond the recipient departments and savings totals in an individual state are not included for any of the listings.In-part due to this lack of direct sourcing, DOGE has been under scrutiny in recent weeks for widespread inaccuracies that have been found to be present on its wall of receipts. Further in-depth investigations on some of the department’s savings claims by media outlets such as the Associated Press and The New York Times found some of the listings on DOGE’s website to be off by magnitudes of billions of dollars. Others found that the department counted contracts and grants in its savings total that were canceled long before Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.DOGE has not offered any public comment further clarifying the specific details behind the massive batch of medical-related grant cuts since uploading them on March 23, or their legal rationale for doing so.
The Department of Government Efficiency is looking to ax nearly a billion dollars worth of grants intended for state health departments in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
This is according to a new dataset that was entered into DOGE’s website on March 23.
The website’s wall of receipts, which showcases the department’s savings efforts, indicates that $867,801,623 intended for state-level health departments in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana is set to potentially be impacted.
This includes $361,373,263 for the state of Ohio, $127,762,201 for the state of Kentucky and $378,666,159 for the state of Indiana.
In a press conference on Thursday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed that he has already received notice of impending funding cuts from the federal government to the state’s health departments.
“We have received notice of grants being canceled,” said Beshear. “It’s an unlawful cancelation, and we’ll challenge it. You know, these are contracts that we have. The contracts can only be terminated for cause, which means somebody did something wrong, and they’re trying to define cause as the pandemic’s over. That’s not a legal argument. And if we have to go to court, we will. But remember, these are signed contracts. These are promises that the federal government made, and they’re doing things like helping us have more people at our health clinics at a time when we’re seeing measles outbreaks out there, at a time when we’re worried about bird flu. It’s all an investment in our healthcare system, but those dollars have been appropriated by law that Congress passed, and a president or an executive can’t say, ‘We’re just not going to do it, we’re going to cancel them.'”
These health department totals that were added to DOGE’s website on March 23 are distributed between 13 grants listed for the state of Kentucky, 15 different grants listed for the state of Ohio, and 18 grants listed for the state of Indiana. However, DOGE does not offer specifics on its website about what the grants were specifically intended for within the state health departments or when they may have been set to go out to the states.
According to the wall of receipts, in Kentucky, $122,505,280 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, while $5,421,284 is being cut from grants that was set to go to the state’s Human Resources Cabinet. According to DOGE, all are grants that are typically awarded under the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services.
In Ohio, $303,447,624 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Health, $32,577,014 is being cut from a grant that was set to go to the state’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, and $25,348,625 is being cut from a grant set to go to the state’s Department of Mental Health.
Meanwhile in Indiana, $351,425,035 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Health, while $27,241,124 is being cut from grants that were set to go to the state’s Department of Mental Health.
DOGE did not offer further specifics about what services the grants were intended for within each department.
However, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana’s state health departments were far from alone to face potential cuts on DOGE’s website. The wall of receipts lists grants for health departments in nearly every state in the country in the new batch of savings receipts that were posted onto the website on March 23. However, like those in the Tri-State, specific details beyond the recipient departments and savings totals in an individual state are not included for any of the listings.
In-part due to this lack of direct sourcing, DOGE has been under scrutiny in recent weeks for widespread inaccuracies that have been found to be present on its wall of receipts. Further in-depth investigations on some of the department’s savings claims by media outlets such as the Associated Press and The New York Times found some of the listings on DOGE’s website to be off by magnitudes of billions of dollars. Others found that the department counted contracts and grants in its savings total that were canceled long before Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
DOGE has not offered any public comment further clarifying the specific details behind the massive batch of medical-related grant cuts since uploading them on March 23, or their legal rationale for doing so.
This article was originally published by a www.wlwt.com . Read the Original article here. .