Question 1: How much funding has DOGE cut so far from Maryland?

 

Our team has been reviewing every grant and contract DOGE says they’ve terminated. So far, $355 million of cuts are based in Maryland. 

 

That’s not a perfect estimate - there’s lots of cuts where the info is redacted or no location is given, so the actual dollar total is likely much higher.

 

And even the grants that do have an exact dollar figure still have missing info. We know DOGE has cut $277 million from the Maryland Department of Health, but DOGE’s data doesn’t explain why.

 

The state has said that it was mostly Covid-19 relief grants being used for mental health services, addiction treatment, vaccine research and more. But just looking at DOGE’s website, that isn’t made clear.

 

 

Question 2: What are some of the largest cuts that we do have more details on?

 

Outside of the Health Department, some of the largest cuts are:

 

$13 million cut from Maryland depts. of Education and Agriculture to buy food from historically underserved farmers

$19 million cut from University of Maryland. Programs include data research on terrorism and violence in U.S., research on how testosterone affects jaw pain

$6.5 million cut from National Wildlife Federation for energy justice work in MD

$5 million cut from Towson University to hire more inclusive educators

 

 

Question 3: There’s been lots of attention in the media about DOGE making mistakes in its data or editing numbers. So do we know these numbers are accurate?

 

Something our team has noticed is that about half of the grants and contracts in Maryland can’t actually be verified with the information that’s publicly available on USAspending.gov, which is the website meant to track all federal spending for the public. 

USA Spending is a huge resource for taxpayers, but it can only tell us about money that's already been spent-- reports about previous fiscal quarters are sent from various agencies, and it takes another 45 days for them to be posted. So many times, DOGE is seeing numbers that we just can't. 

That's why we've been advocating for an idea like "America's Checkbook,” a system where everyone can see real time payments coming and going from Washington. Just like you can monitor your own bank account, you should be able to see how your tax dollars are being spent.

The gap between what's public and what DOGE can see is a wedge that could cause some to mistrust the project. When there’s discrepancies, it's hard to know if there’s actually been a mistake or if the public data just isn’t up to date. Either way, the public deserves better transparency with what’s being spent and what's being cut.