Haywood Talcove
© Al Drago/Getty ImagesHaywood Talcove, Chief executive officer of Lexis Nexis Risk Solution, testifies
House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee DOGE • Washington DC • February 12, 2025
The first hearing of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency [DOGE] was held Wednesday and featured extensive discussion of the domestic and international criminal organizations stealing vast sums of taxpayer dollars from the U.S. government.

Haywood Talcove, CEO of Lexis Nexis Risk Solution, described to lawmakers the different kinds of criminals exploiting U.S. government benefits systems, pointing out that Covid relief provided a windfall of over $1 trillion to those criminal elements. He said:
"Outdated government systems permit criminals to access unlimited sums of money. During the pandemic, they stole $1 trillion dollars, 70 percent of those dollars went overseas. Shockingly, it's just not criminals exploiting the system, it's the flawed system itself acting as the accomplice. If left unchecked, the U.S. government will continue to lead the world in funding cyber criminals."
As the Trump and then Biden administration pushed Covid relief money out the door quickly, criminals were able to take advantage of the government largesse: The Department of Labor's inspector general estimated in February 2023 that at least $191 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits were improper payments. Another estimated $200 billion was stolen from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection and Disaster Loan programs, according to the SBA IG.

Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) introduced legislation last month to extend the authorization of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, a watchdog tasked with tracking down billions worth of Covid-19 fraud, and empowering the Treasury Department to collect delinquent loans under $100,000.

In addition to Covid-related fraud, Talcove identified Medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and TANF as government assistance programs rife with fraud and abuse.

The U.S. government's lack of data sharing, ineffective fraud detection systems, and outdated verification methods are all matters of concern for Talcove. Other witnesses brought before the DOGE Subcommittee shared similar worries about the government's failure to properly verify eligibility for assistance programs and the need to reduce wasteful government spending.

Stewart Whitson, Senior Director of Federal Affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability and a former FBI agent, focused on improper Medicaid payments caused primarily by eligibility errors and enrolling individuals before they are verified. He said.
"As Medicaid has grown, so too has its mismanagement. Today, more than one in five dollars spent on Medicaid is improper. In Medicaid alone, fraud and mismanagement is on track to cost U.S. taxpayers, get this, more than $1 trillion over the next ten years.

"When it comes to the problem of improper payments the Medicaid program is the biggest culprit, encompassing nearly one third of all federal improper payments. And more than 80 percent of Medicaid improper payments are due to one thing: eligibility errors. If Congress wants to help President Trump address wasteful spending, then targeting eligibility errors in Medicaid should be one of your top priorities."
Whitson attributed the explosion of improper Medicaid payments to regulations from the Biden administration that hamstrung the ability of states to verify recipients and remove individuals who were discovered to be ineligible. In Whitson's view, cutting those regulations and improving verification measures will help reduce improper Medicaid payments. Moreover, he advised Congress to help make it easier for President Trump to fire unelected bureaucrats fighting against the White House's agenda.

The DOGE Subcommittee hearing, the panel's first, occurred in conjunction with an effort by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency to cut down federal spending and streamline government operations. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) is leading the DOGE Subcommittee's "war on waste" as chairwoman of the panel. Greene said in her opening statement lamenting America's $36 trillion of debt:
"I believe enslaving our nation in debt is one of the biggest betrayals against the American people by its own elected government. The American people's anger over this betrayal is what gave birth to the concept of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. In fact, DOGE became a major part of President Trump's campaign and led to his overwhelming victory in November."
Billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's most prominent cheerleader online and one of his largest donors, is leading DOGE's push to trim the size of government and track down needless spending. Musk and his team of lawyers and engineers have sought to access government payment systems to go through line items and identify areas of excess.

DOGE Subcommittee Democrats spent much of the first hearing criticizing Musk and DOGE for firing several inspectors general, including some at agencies actively investigating Musk's companies such as Tesla and SpaceX.

Representative Greg Casar (D., Texas.) led the charge in castigating the "Trump-Musk administration" for firing watchdogs and protecting Musk's companies while pursuing cuts to agencies and programs he believes are vital to servicing the poor. Democrats have attempted to fight the DOGE's push to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and reduce the size of the federal workforce by emphasizing Musk's wealth and role as an unelected steward of DOGE.