Joni Ernst introduces first major DOGE bill that could save taxpayers eye-popping amount

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa introduced legislation Thursday to codify policies implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that could save over $150 billion a year.

The legislation, the Delivering On Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Spending Act, would mandate compliance provisions from a March 25 executive order by President Donald Trump that instituted new procedures to prevent fraudulent payments, including validating recipients of payments and also by coding the payments with information linking them to budget items. Ernst, who heads the Senate DOGE Caucus, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that veterans would benefit from the legislation’s passage and from preventing the improper payments.

“It is inexcusable that disabled veterans are short-changed while billions of dollars in overpayments are sent out the door because Washington is asleep at the wheel,” Ernst told the DCNF. “Enacting a commonsense process will stop folks from double dipping, catch fraudsters, and save tens of billions of dollars in bogus payments.”

Federal agencies have been mailing cash to hundreds of thousands of Americans in recent years.

I’m working with @DOGE to end the madness.

Money does not grow on trees! https://t.co/QggYxREVRX

— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) May 3, 2025

Some disabled veterans are being shortchanged by as much as $4,170.59, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Improper payments cost the federal government $162 billion in fiscal year 2024, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

“The Trump administration and DOGE have done tremendous work to put taxpayers first, and we cannot allow these wins to be temporary,” Ernst continued. “I am leading the fight in Congress to make the savings permanent by codifying President Trump’s actions to ensure the federal government is efficient instead of wasteful.”

Ernst’s bill is the first piece of legislation introduced since Elon Musk’s tenure as a special government employee ended May 30.

“By requiring agencies to give Treasury’s Do Not Pay (DNP) system relevant data before issuing payments, requiring Treasury to code and attach each payment to the relevant appro­priations account, and granting Treasury the ability to ping databases at other agencies and available in the private sector to ensure accuracy and eligibility for each payment, we will, for the first time, have a federal payment system equipped with the necessary tools to all but entirely eliminate improper payments and fraud on the front end, and go after any fraud­sters who might still slip through the cracks,” a handout about the legislation provided by Ernst’s office says.

Ernst’s office told the DCNF that the legislation could help pay for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act currently pending in the Senate, where it has faced resistance from some fiscal hawks. Musk has also vocally opposed the legislation, calling it a “disgusting abomination.”

DOGE identified $175 billion in savings since Trump established it, an average of $1,086.96 per taxpayer, according to the organization’s website. The department lists the savings it has identified on its website, breaking it down into contracts, leases and grants. It also breaks down spending, while providing information on the federal workforce and government regulations.

Ernst has focused on government waste since her election to the Senate in 2014, with a recent focus on the effects of telework and remote work on federal agencies. In a seven-page letter sent to Musk in November 2024, Ernst’s suggestions ranged from addressing unused space in buildings to uncommitted spending for COVID relief, with the proposed cuts totaling over $2 trillion.

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