It was apparent from the beginning that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the people working in it were going to find themselves in a target-rich environment. But, we have to admit, until the DOGE members started digging, not even the most pessimistic among us realized how much waste there really was - or how much money was being frittered away by incompetence and graft. 

Now we have another example. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner has formed a DOGE task force to work with the larger effort to comb through HUD's books, and one of the first things they found was $1.9 billion - that's "billion" as in a "b" followed by an "illion" - that had been "misplaced" by the Biden administration.

How, for the luvva Pete, do you "misplace" almost two billion taxpayer dollars?

DOGE revealed that $1.9 billion in HUD money had been recovered as of Friday, saying the funds were misplaced during the Biden administration and were "earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed."

DOGE said it worked with Turner to release the funds, and they are now available for use by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Turner said HUD launched its own DOGE Task Force to review how the agency is spending taxpayer money. HUD employees will lead the task force with a mission to maximize their budget and efficiency, reporting their findings directly to Turner.

Misplaced. This isn't like someone wandering around the house looking for their car keys. This is a major government agency that lost $1,900,000,000. Heads should roll for this level of either incompetence or dishonesty - maybe both. There has to be more to this story than a huge block of money confiscated by force of law from American taxpayers just being "misplaced." Remember that the Biden administration was marked by corruption and incompetence, from the very top down, and it's hard to credit that this money was just "misplaced."

But, thanks to the DOGE, at least this money has been recovered. Better it go to paying down the national debt than just being returned to the Treasury, but it's still a win for the taxpayers.

HUD and the DOGE aren't done yet.

Turner said during his announcement Thursday that the DOGE Task Force had already identified over $260 million in savings.

"We have already identified over $260 million in savings, and we have more to accomplish," Turner said.

DOGE Task Force Update from @SecretaryTurner:
“We will be very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America.”pic.twitter.com/uFN7cApwQX

— Department of Housing and Urban Development (@HUDgov) February 14, 2025

This is a Pantagruelian effort that the DOGE has taken on, but it's an effort that is not only necessary; it's critical.

See Related: Why Should American Taxpayers Be on the Hook for Family Planning in Other Countries?

Here Are the 5 Most Controversial Examples of Gov't Waste Uncovered by DOGE (So Far)

Keep watching, one and all. The DOGE has a lot to do and not much time; most of the problems they have identified will require Congressional action to fix permanently, and the Trump administration can count on a little less than two years of a friendly Congress. We can hope that the successes of the administration will keep the House and Senate in GOP hands, but they had better be planning for the worst while hoping for the best.