The single, largest source of savings would come from dramatically reducing improper payments across government departments and agencies, according to CAGW.

Reducing improper Medicare payments by 50 percent alone would save U.S. taxpayers $18.1 billion over five years…

…CAGW Communications Director Curtis Kalin told watchdog.org.

‘Improper payments across the government is an incredibly important story that doesn’t get as much coverage as it should,’ Kalin said.

Improper payments by federal government departments and agencies can result from simple clerical errors…

…such as inputting an incorrect dollar amount, or they may result from more serious, potentially criminal, activities — over-billing or fraud on the part of federal government contractors, for example.”

Currently these “clerical errors”, which are more likely a cover for criminal activities committed by federal government employees, cost taxpayers $130 billion to $140 billion per year.

A private company would never be allowed to function if its improper payment rate was this high.

10-20% of many government agency budgets are spent on these wasteful expenditures, which do nothing to help the people who need it the most.

Scammers prey upon programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and all of these agencies combined account for 62% of 2019’s total budget.

Millions of transactions and trillions in cash pass through these agencies every year, providing ample opportunity for employees to skim a little off the top without being noticed.

We must root out the federal government employees who are committing these financial crimes, and perhaps automate these jobs to downsize how much money these leeches drain from these programs.

But whatever we do, we have to do something. FAST.