SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN: Trump, Musk and I agree on something important. And I've got 30 ways to get it done

Here’s something President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and I agree on: the federal government throws away trillions of dollars on wasteful spending. I have spent years trying to squeeze government waste out of our budget, and I’m ready to work with Musk to make government more efficient and save taxpayers money. But here’s the thing: we need to focus in the right place. Instead of cutting help for people who rely on Medicare, Social Security and the VA, let’s focus on the billionaires and billionaire corporations who are feasting off the American taxpayer.

After promising his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would cut $2 trillion in government waste, Musk’s ambition is rapidly shrinking. Within weeks, he cut his goal in half to $1 trillion– all before he’s actually cut a single dollar. I don’t want Musk to fold so quickly. I crunched the numbers and found $2 trillion that we could cut over the next 10 years by focusing on the guys who are getting rich off our government.  Last week, I sent Musk my blueprint to do just that. 

Congressional Republicans’ initial plans call for cuts to government programs that millions of Americans rely on to pay their bills each month – things like Social Security, money to cover nursing home costs, and help buying private health insurance. Scrapping essential services is not efficiency; it is cold-hearted cruelty. Tossing old folks out of nursing homes or telling people that their insurance has been cancelled won’t save money; it just makes lives tougher for families that struggle to pick up the slack. If Musk and the Republicans take that route, it will be a disaster for working people and I will fight back.

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But we don’t have to cut the programs Americans rely on. We can eliminate at least $2 trillion of government waste over the next decade without cutting programs that help our grandparents, our veterans, and our children. In fact, I have 30 specific proposals to do just that. I'll share a few of them now, but you can read all about them in my letter to Musk here. 

Here are a few examples of government waste we could start with. First, we could negotiate better contracts for the Department of Defense. In 2023, the DoD spent $440.7 billion on contracts - and giant contractors overcharge us on nearly everything. The Air Force pays over 7,500% more on soap dispensers than regular Americans do. The Army pays $71 for pins that should cost less than a nickel. Spending is so out of control at DoD that it is the only agency in government that cannot pass a simple audit. American taxpayers are sick of getting scammed by overpaid military contractors. My recommendations on Defense spending alone would save nearly $200 billion in the next 12 years. 

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Taxpayers are also getting swindled by for-profit health insurance companies. Right now, about half of all seniors have been lured into a privatized Medicare program called Medicare Advantage. This program was started to lower costs for seniors, but over time the insurers figured out how to boost their profits by manipulating claims and denying coverage.  It’s so bad now that the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates that privatized Medicare insurers overcharged taxpayers by overcharged taxpayers by nearly $83 billion in 2024 alone, while other independent researchers put the dollar figure at $140 billion. Rooting out their dirty tactics could save more than a trillion dollars over ten years without cutting Medicare benefits by one penny.

Cracking down on health care profiteering isn’t a partisan issue. I’ve partnered with Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri to claw back billions more from corporations that are cheating the government on health care costs. He’s not the only Republican who agrees that we need to stop corporations from overcharging taxpayers for lifesaving medications: President Trump has voiced President Trump has voiced supportfor another one of my proposals to cut wasteful spending, Medicare price negotiations. By expanding this program to bring the prices down for the most expensive drugs covered by Medicare, the government could save taxpayers could save taxpayers another $200 billion over the next decade.

We can bring down the deficit by cutting spending, but we can also improve our financial position by making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share. Hedge funds and private equity companies use loopholes to use loopholes to avoid paying anywhere between $1.4 billion and $18 billion each year -- that’s an easy fix. By closing just one big estate tax exemption loophole abused by the ultra-rich, the US government could government could save another $60 billion per year. We should close those loopholes - and fully fund the IRS to catch wealthy tax cheats who think they’re above the law.  

My list of cuts and loophole closers will save $2 trillion. So where are Elon Musk, Donald Trump and the DOGE project? Why give up so quickly on beating back the defense contractors, health insurance giants, and other huge companies that are ripping off the American people?  If Musk and Trump have the courage to cut this waste, I’ve got a plan and 30 specific recommendations to get it done.

Democrat Elizabeth Warren represents Massachusetts in the United States Senate.