The government has frozen credit card science! – Watt?

Guest “Duji, baby, Dugu!” David Middleton

Doge's credit card spending limits hinder federal science

The agency freezes most spends above $1. Now, government researchers work hard to perform the basic functions of their work.

Emily Mullin and Zoë Schiffer
03.11.2025

lAst month, President Donald Trump's administration has a $1 limit on most government-issued credit cards that federal employees use to pay for travel and work. The impact has been widely felt.

At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists cannot order equipment to repair ships and radars. At the Food and Drug Administration, the lab is ordering essential supplies. At the National Park Service, employees are canceling travel to oversee critical maintenance efforts. At the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Aviation Administration, employees worry that mission-critical projects may stagnate. In many cases, employees are no longer able to perform the basic functions of their work.

[…]

Credit card programs allow federal workers to bypass the typical procurement process required to purchase goods and services. “By avoiding a formal procurement process, the GSA estimates savings of $1.2 billion per year,” a 2002 Department of Commerce report said. It also enables federal employees to avoid paying sales tax on government-exempt fees.

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Spending restrictions reflect Musk's belief in the zero-budget-based approach. After buying Twitter, he cut his budget to zero and forced employees to justify each fee. He also freezes people's corporate credit cards.

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Emily Mullin is a staff writer for Wired, covering biotech.

Zoë Schiffer oversees Wired's business and Silicon Valley reports.

Kate Knibbs and Aarian Marshall contributed to the report.

Not sold

I have worked in the oil and gas industry since 1981, including as Vice President of Exploration, the 4th Company, and I have never owned a company Mastercard, Visa, American Express or other general-purpose credit card. Early in my career, companies frequently issued airline and car rental credit cards, especially for corporate travel. However, for most of my career, I had to pay for my own travel and file a fee report for reimbursement.

This point here is just ridiculous:

Credit card programs allow federal workers to bypass the typical procurement process required to purchase goods and services. “By avoiding a formal procurement process, the GSA estimates savings of $1.2 billion per year,” a 2002 Department of Commerce report said. It also enables federal employees to avoid paying sales tax on government-exempt fees.

This comes from the actual report:

The US government purchases a credit card that is issued by an individual internationally accepted credit card
Contractors and personnel based on a universal service for all federal agencies
Management (GSA) contract. The purpose of the purchase card program is to minimize the purchase of paperwork up to $25,000 under appropriate authorization. According to the GSA, the 2000 card used more than $23 million in transactions and was worth $12.3 billion. By avoiding the formal procurement process, GSA estimates annual savings of $1.2 billion.

Although they provide efficiency and savings to the government, the purchase of card plans is high risk as they allow the same person to order, pay and receive goods and services. If not carefully monitored, this provides the potential for fraud, abuse and improper transactions.

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A practical guide to reviewing government card purchase programs

This is a 23-year-old guide for reviewing the use of government credit cards. There are no documents to support $1.2 billion in annual savings “by avoiding the formal procurement process.” In the private sector, it is easy to be fired by “avoiding the formal procurement process.” The purpose of the “formal procurement process” is to strictly abide by the budget.

This CNBC article started in 2014:

Extensive abuse of government fee cards

May 6, 2014 at the morning

The federal government has been working to provide adequate oversight of its government credit card programs for years, and a series of new audits suggest that this remains a persistent and expensive issue.

The whole purpose of government credit cards is to simplify the federal procurement process (but without proper oversight, purchase goods – millions of dollars are abused and abused by federal employees.

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The widespread abuse even prompted Congress to pass legislation in 2012 requiring federal agencies to review their card purchase plans. New guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget even warn that workers could be fired if they charge cards inappropriately.

Regardless, the problem persists, and auditors still say some agencies continue to fail to conduct the review, which makes more money vulnerable to waste and abuse.

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Again, the ability of the government IT system and the manager responsible for spending taxpayers dollars is questioned.

– Brianna Ehley during the financial period

CNBC

Starting from 2015…

Former DEA employee pleads guilty to credit card fraud scheme

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) employee pleased guilty today to defrauding the government out of more than $113,000 using fraudulently issued government credit cards, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, US Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Michael P. Tompkins of the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General in Washington, DC

Keenya Meshell Banks, 42, of Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, a Maryland area. A sentencing hearing is scheduled to be held on June 29, 2015.

Under her plea agreement, the bank was hired by the DEA as a program manager and was responsible for approving and issuing government credit cards to DEA employees. In the role, the bank acknowledged that she submitted dozens of fake credit card applications to JPMorgan Chase & Co. using names and information identifying individuals who did not work in the DEA. However, in at least one case, the bank submitted identification information of the actual DEA employee. Through the program, the bank received at least 32 fraudulent credit cards, and she once pulled more than $113,000 from ATMs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. As part of her plea agreement, the bank agreed to confiscate the proceeds from the program and compensate in full.

The case is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General and is conducted by criminal attorney Richard B. Evans and trial attorneys Richard B. Evans and Justin Weitz in the Public Integrity Division of the Criminal Department and Thomas P. Windom, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland.

Updated February 5, 2025

U.S. Department of Justice

Starting from 2025…

Forces use government cards to pay for casinos, online games and Super Bowl parties

An Air Force cardholder took out more than $10,000 in cash on his government travel card on 23 trips to the casino. Still, compliance is better than it was a decade ago.

Matt White

Posted on January 27, 2025

Military service members charged at least $500,000 for gambling, drinking, nightclubs and online games in 2023 without triggering alerts from financial officials.

The report “DOD Government Travel Cost Audit: Audit of Visa IntelliLink Compliance Management System” reviews the effectiveness of the system, known as VICM. The investigation uncovered a vulnerability in the Watchdog program that allows fraud and unauthorized spending to surpass officials. Many are small, such as buying online gaming apps or drinks during holidays or Super Bowl, while others keep fraudulent fees for months.

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Mission and Purpose

While government credit card abuse and fraud are a problem, using credit cards to avoid the “formal procurement process” may be worse.

This is no coincidence:

Spending restrictions reflect Musk's belief in the zero-budget-based approach. After buying Twitter, he cut his budget to zero and forced employees to justify each fee.

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