How to actually tackle government waste
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elon Musk and his DOGE team have been inside the pipes of the federal government on a mission to cut government spending and root out waste. We know government waste exists. But today, we’ll explain the problem with the way DOGE is going about it. Plus, blue state Republicans and their newfound power! And, stick around for your daily dose of positive news: We’ll hear about some of the good things that have been happening to “Make Me Smart” listeners. (Keep ‘em coming!)
Here’s everything we talked about:
- Watch: Watch live: House DOGE subcommittee holds first hearing on federal spending on YouTube
- “DOGE fight: New subcommittee holds its first House hearing” by Roll Call
- “The Government Waste DOGE Should Be Cutting” from The Atlantic
- Improper Payments and Fraud: How They Are Related but Different from the Government Accountability Office
- Watch: Happening Now: Powell Testifies Before Senate Banking Committee on YouTube
- “What does having the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on hold mean for consumers?” from AP News
- “How blue state Republicans could shape Congressional legislation this year” by Marketplace
Got a question or comment for the hosts? Email makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What are we waiting for? |
| 0:02.6 | Okay, let's go. |
| 0:04.0 | Button has been hit. |
| 0:05.6 | My goodness, training radio professionals. |
| 0:07.9 | Hey, everybody, I'm Kyle Rosdahl. |
| 0:09.0 | Welcome back to Make Me Smart. |
| 0:10.1 | Where we make today. |
| 0:11.2 | Make what makes sense. |
| 0:13.5 | I'm a little overcap on. |
| 0:14.8 | I'm going to get it again. |
| 0:16.4 | Sorry. |
| 0:19.4 | Hey, I'm here for it. I actually drank coffee today, so I am right there with you. You're not going to sleep tonight. What are you doing? |
| 0:22.5 | I'm not. I'm Kimberly Adams, and it's Thursday, February 13th, and today we are going to be highly caffeinated and listen back to some audio from this week's news and discuss. |
| 0:34.9 | So first up, we're going to go to Congress just down the street from where I am right now. |
| 0:39.3 | The House has a new subcommittee called Delivering on Government Efficiency. |
| 0:45.5 | Also, Doge, different from the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not actually a department, but neither are you in or there. |
| 0:53.1 | Anyway, this subcommittee called Delivering on Government |
| 0:56.6 | Efficiency held its first hearing yesterday, and it was about, air quotes, rooting out and blocking |
| 1:03.2 | improper federal payments and fraud and abuse in the government's budget. Here's a clip that caught |
| 1:08.7 | my attention. Sometimes improper payments are a function of bad record keeping. Sometimes there are a function |
| 1:14.2 | of outdated information technology systems. Sometimes they come about through human error and |
| 1:18.1 | sometimes they come about through negligence. It just simply is not the case that improper |
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