Storms Hit. Fires Raged. Washington Cut the Check—But Not for Us.
While Americans lost everything, Washington funded everywhere else. It's time to put America first.
UPDATED: 4/25/25 at 11:32pm
The United States is facing a crossroads—one paved with record-breaking deficits, failing infrastructure, an overwhelmed immigration system, and rising domestic instability. At the same time, many Americans feel like they’re being asked to fund endless government waste, foreign programs they don’t understand, and bureaucracies that seem detached from their daily struggles. Enter the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created in early 2025 and led by Elon Musk, with a mission to root out waste and reclaim taxpayer dollars. Its work has been controversial, yet one thing is clear: DOGE has uncovered an opportunity—one we must not waste.
While DOGE claims to have identified nearly $160 billion in federal savings, independent audits suggest a more grounded figure: between $10 billion and $55 billion. After removing inflated figures and preserving vital, citizen-benefiting USAID programs, a realistic and responsibly calculated figure emerges: $79.84 billion in reclaimable savings. That number could grow to $140 billion over 5 years, and nearly $215 billion over 10 years.
Importantly, this total excludes cuts to proven, tangible USAID initiatives that directly protect American citizens. These include:
USAID's Ebola and Zika responses, which prevented pandemics from spreading into U.S. communities.
Energy infrastructure stabilization that protected shipping lanes and prevented global oil price spikes.
Agricultural biosecurity programs that shielded U.S. farms from invasive pests and diseases.
In short, we are not arguing to cut what works—we are arguing to keep the good and redirect the waste. And there is no shortage of urgent domestic crises where these funds could be transformational.
Immigration System Reform: Reimagining a Modern Ellis Island
America's immigration system is broken—not just politically, but logistically and morally. With over 2 million pending cases and only 500 immigration judges nationwide, the average asylum seeker or visa applicant can wait three to seven years for a ruling. In the meantime, families are left in limbo, local governments are overwhelmed, and border facilities become overcrowded—fueling humanitarian crises and political division.
With DOGE-identified savings, we can build something better. Not a wall, not a temporary fix—but a 21st-century Ellis Island for the modern era.
This would be a national processing and integration hub modeled after the original Ellis Island, which processed more than 12 million immigrants with dignity, speed, and structure. The modern version would combine:
Biometric and medical screening for public health and security.
On-site immigration courts to reduce case backlogs.
Temporary housing with humane living conditions.
Legal orientation and language access services.
Job and housing placement coordination with state and local governments.
The facility could also operate in tandem with a modernized digital immigration platform, reducing errors, duplication, and fraud. With regional hubs in high-entry areas such as Texas, California, and Arizona, these centers would allow us to scale border management without chaos.
This isn’t just about managing migration—it’s about restoring public trust. When Americans see a system that works, that distinguishes clearly between legal and illegal entry, and that operates with both compassion and control, support for reform grows.
Meanwhile, municipalities like New York City and Chicago—currently spending billions to shelter and process undocumented arrivals—would receive coordinated federal relief through intake and case triage managed at the point of entry.
Rather than exporting chaos from the border to cities, we could contain, manage, and humanely guide it. It’s not just possible—it’s overdue.
A modern Ellis Island sends a clear message to the world: America is still open to those who come legally, contribute proudly, and believe in the dream. But we will no longer tolerate disorder.
Homelessness and Housing: Ending the Crisis with Permanent Solutions
Over 600,000 Americans are homeless each night, many of them veterans, seniors, families with children, and youth who aged out of foster care. Despite billions spent annually, the crisis continues to grow because most spending focuses on temporary fixes—shelters, emergency interventions, and policing—rather than on permanent solutions. Cities like San Francisco spend over $1 billion annually just to manage—not solve—homelessness.
But we know what works. Research consistently shows that permanent supportive housing, paired with mental health and addiction services, dramatically reduces homelessness and saves public dollars elsewhere: fewer ER visits, fewer jail bookings, fewer social service crises. Studies show it can cut overall public spending on homeless individuals by up to 49%.
DOGE savings could fund 100,000 permanent supportive housing units nationwide—specifically targeting high-need urban areas, veterans, and families. But we could go even further:
Expand Housing Choice Vouchers to cover the millions currently eligible but left on waiting lists.
Fund rapid rehousing programs that move people out of shelters into apartments faster.
Convert thousands of underused federal, military, and postal service properties into transitional and affordable housing communities.
In cities like Houston, the "Housing First" model cut chronic homelessness by more than 60% in under a decade. Salt Lake City reduced veteran homelessness to near zero by guaranteeing permanent housing alongside social supports.
Without stable housing, every other solution—employment programs, addiction treatment, family reunification—becomes exponentially harder. Housing is not just shelter; it’s the foundation for dignity, recovery, and economic participation.
With $80 billion, we could break the cycle of temporary aid and finally deliver the permanent security Americans deserve. Not patches. Not endless "band-aids." Real homes. Real hope. Real change.
Mental Health and Healthcare: Meeting the Moment
America’s mental health system is not in crisis—it’s in collapse. More than 150 million Americans live in areas with too few mental health providers. Suicide remains the second-leading cause of death for young people, and drug overdoses—fueled by fentanyl—claim over 100,000 lives annually, surpassing even car accidents and gun violence.
Emergency rooms have become the default mental health providers for millions. Jails and prisons have become the largest psychiatric facilities in the country, housing individuals whose real "crime" is untreated illness. Meanwhile, rural hospitals continue to shutter, cutting off critical care access to America's heartland.
With DOGE savings, we could finally meet the moment with comprehensive, scalable solutions:
Reopen and modernize rural hospitals, offering psychiatric beds and outpatient crisis services.
Fund mobile psychiatric units capable of reaching underserved communities, reducing the need for emergency room visits.
Expand telehealth infrastructure so that veterans, seniors, and rural residents can access therapy and psychiatric services from home.
Deploy school-based mental health counselors to intervene early, addressing trauma, anxiety, and depression before they spiral into crisis.
Scale up medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs to combat the opioid epidemic, particularly inside jails, prisons, and emergency rooms.
One proven model is the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon, where trained clinicians and medics respond to mental health 911 calls instead of police officers. This model successfully diverted 20% of emergency calls, reducing arrests and hospitalizations, and saving the city millions of dollars annually. Scaling CAHOOTS-style teams nationally could radically improve outcomes for both patients and public safety.
We could also replicate innovative programs like Vermont's "hub-and-spoke" system for opioid recovery—where patients receive ongoing, holistic support rather than temporary, fragmented care.
Without mental health infrastructure, addiction surges, families collapse, homelessness explodes, and preventable tragedies mount. Mental health is not a luxury—it is the linchpin for a functioning, humane society.
With $80 billion redirected from wasteful spending, we could turn America’s mental health landscape from a battlefield into a sanctuary—saving lives, strengthening families, and healing our communities from the inside out.
Promises Made, Help Denied
Two of the most devastating disasters in recent American history revealed not just the brutal force of nature, but the devastating collapse of federal leadership—especially under the previous administration, which failed to deliver timely, meaningful relief to its own citizens. When Americans cried out for help, Washington responded with bureaucracy. When communities needed swift action, they received endless delays.
In North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, federal aid distribution was chaotic and sluggish. FEMA trailers, promised within weeks, took months to arrive. Only 18% of applicants received temporary housing assistance within the first 90 days. Critical infrastructure—roads, bridges, and power lines—remained damaged for over six months in many rural communities. Schools sat shuttered. Hospitals operated on emergency generators. While Biden officials repeatedly promised "historic relief," actual disbursement of funds lagged by over 120 days in multiple counties. Instead of rapid deployment, families were forced to navigate confusing paperwork, long lines, and hollow assurances.
Meanwhile, during the Palisades and Eaton Fires in Southern California, federal disaster declarations were delayed, slowing critical aid. Thousands of evacuees were jammed into overcrowded shelters with minimal federal support. Homeowners waited months for FEMA inspections; the average payout was only $3,500, despite homes worth $400,000 or more being reduced to ashes. Insurance companies dragged their feet, and federal agencies provided little to no assistance in speeding up claims or offering temporary solutions. Local officials issued public pleas for more resources, but Washington remained paralyzed by inefficiency and inaction.
In both disasters, the Biden administration prioritized press conferences and political optics over actual recovery. Instead of empowering local and state recovery efforts, they drowned them in red tape, bureaucracy, and endless delays. Americans weren't just underserved—they were abandoned.
Had DOGE savings been available and properly prioritized, the government could have fundamentally changed the outcomes for these communities with real, tangible results:
Deployed 50,000 modular homes within 45 days, at an average cost of $60,000 each, totaling roughly $3 billion. This would have sheltered over 90% of displaced families from Hurricane Helene, providing immediate, dignified housing instead of months in temporary shelters or motels.
Issued $25,000 direct emergency grants to at least 30,000 households, injecting $750 million directly into devastated communities to help cover immediate expenses like relocation, medical care, childcare, and food security.
Restored over 80% of major roads and bridges within 60-90 days by mobilizing local contractors using emergency fast-track contracts — instead of traditional federal bid processes that usually take 9–18 months to even begin construction.
Rebuilt more than 100 essential public facilities (schools, hospitals, fire stations) using modular construction techniques, achieving full reopening within 6 to 12 months, compared to the 3–5 years typical for FEMA-led recovery timelines.
Provided $100 million in small business grants, potentially saving 5,000+ local businesses from bankruptcy — businesses that would have otherwise taken years to recover or would have disappeared permanently.
For the Palisades and Eaton Fires:
Funded $50,000 rebuilding grants for 1,500+ destroyed homes, allowing families to begin reconstruction immediately without waiting on stalled insurance claims.
Offered no-interest federal loans up to $200,000 to at least 3,000 affected families, providing a pathway for uninsured and underinsured homeowners to fully rebuild.
Covered one full year of temporary housing stipends, averaging $2,500/month per family, preventing thousands from falling into long-term homelessness.
Pre-positioned 2,500 additional firefighters, fire engines, and aerial water tankers before fire season, reducing the spread and destruction by up to 30%, according to U.S. Forest Service prevention studies — meaning many homes and communities could have been saved before flames even reached them.
Instead of delivering these life-saving efforts, Washington delivered FEMA paperwork, insurance denials, months of waiting, and empty promises.
The Biden administration had the resources — they simply chose not to use them to protect their own citizens.
DOGE’s identified savings could have turned suffering into swift recovery, tragedy into rebuilding, and despair into real hope.
A Second Failure: Climate Inaction and Its Growing Costs
Beyond immediate disaster relief, the federal government's chronic underinvestment in resilience and prevention only compounds the damage. For every $1 invested in disaster resilience, we save $6 in future recovery costs. Yet year after year, proactive measures are gutted while reactive spending explodes.
DOGE savings could finally change that.
Instead of waiting for the next hurricane, fire, flood, or drought to devastate American families, we could:
Fortify levees in flood-prone states.
Fund wildfire prevention and controlled burns across the West.
Modernize power grids to withstand storms.
Build hurricane-resistant affordable housing in coastal areas.
It’s not just about future generations—it’s about protecting the American people today.
We have the money. We have the knowledge.
It’s time to have the will.
A Balanced Approach: Keep What Works
One of the most shortsighted criticisms of government reform is the assumption that slashing all foreign aid is patriotic. In truth, smart, strategic foreign investment saves American lives, strengthens our economy, and prevents global crises from reaching our shores.
We must be precise. Wasteful, duplicative, or corrupt international programs should absolutely be eliminated. But targeted programs that directly protect the health, economy, and security of U.S. citizens must be preserved and even strengthened.
Here’s what works—and why:
Disease Prevention Programs: USAID's role in containing Ebola, Zika, and other pandemics abroad spared American hospitals and communities from mass outbreaks. During the Ebola crisis of 2014-2016, USAID’s rapid response prevented what experts estimated could have been a multi-billion-dollar domestic public health disaster.
Agricultural Disease Control: USAID’s surveillance networks in Central America have stopped pests and diseases—like the Mediterranean fruit fly and coffee rust—from wiping out U.S. farms. Without this investment, food prices for Americans would have skyrocketed, and farming communities would have been devastated.
Energy Route Stabilization: U.S. efforts to safeguard international shipping lanes and energy infrastructure—often supported by USAID projects—keep global oil supplies flowing. These initiatives directly protect American consumers from energy shocks and price hikes, such as the 1970s oil crisis that paralyzed our economy.
These programs, costing just $2.97 billion out of nearly $80 billion in DOGE savings, represent a mere 2% of the total savings yet deliver disproportionate returns in national stability, security, and economic well-being.
The distinction is simple but crucial: Eliminate what is wasteful; preserve what is protective.
Blanket cuts to all foreign aid would be as foolish as cutting your home insurance because you haven't had a fire—right before your neighbor’s house catches ablaze.
Strategic investment abroad is not charity. It is self-defense.
DOGE’s greatest value lies not just in rooting out inefficiency but in forcing us to prioritize wisely: keeping every dollar that shields American families, American jobs, American health, and American freedom.
It’s time to stop throwing good programs out with the bad. It’s time to wield efficiency with intelligence—not ideology.
The Outlook
Over five years, these adjusted DOGE savings could amount to $140 billion. Over ten years, nearly $215 billion. To put that in perspective, that is more than enough to:
Fund Universal Pre-K for every 3- and 4-year-old in America, giving children the critical early education foundation that correlates with higher graduation rates, lower crime rates, and long-term economic gains.
End Chronic Homelessness by building hundreds of thousands of supportive housing units and expanding Housing Choice Vouchers to all who qualify—a permanent solution, not a temporary patch.
Expand Medicaid Access across all 50 states, ensuring that millions of low-income Americans who currently fall into coverage gaps finally receive basic healthcare services.
Hire Thousands of Mental Health Professionals, ensuring that no school, rural town, or veteran community is left without psychiatric care or crisis intervention teams.
Construct Climate Resilience Infrastructure, like fortified levees in the Carolinas, wildfire-resistant grids in California, and hurricane-resistant housing along the Gulf Coast—saving lives and billions in future disaster costs.
Create a Modern Ellis Island, restoring public confidence in our immigration system, welcoming legal immigrants with dignity, and closing the chaos loopholes that fuel distrust and division.
Beyond these transformative investments, reallocated DOGE savings could also be used to reduce the national deficit, stabilize Social Security and Medicare funds, and finally reinvest in the forgotten communities of rural America and inner cities alike.
The potential is staggering. The tragedy is that for decades, this opportunity was buried under red tape, special interests, and bureaucratic inertia.
Now we see it clearly: the money is already there. The only thing missing is the will to act.
The Mandate
What DOGE has uncovered is not just fraud and waste—it’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to course-correct America’s priorities. This is not a left-wing argument for unchecked government growth. Nor is it a right-wing demand for reckless austerity. It is a practical, deeply American case for honest stewardship and bold reinvestment.
For decades, both parties have allowed bureaucracy, political favors, and short-term optics to crowd out common sense. As a result, American citizens—the ones who pay the bills—have been left with crumbling hospitals, overwhelmed border towns, flooded homes, untreated mental illness, and streets lined with the homeless.
The federal budget is not just a spreadsheet. It is a reflection of our national character. Every dollar wasted abroad while Americans suffer is an insult to the ideals we claim to defend: freedom, opportunity, and justice.
We don’t need to choose between rooting out inefficiency and helping our own. We can do both—and we must.
We now know the money is there. We know what programs save lives. We know what investments yield returns. The excuses have run out.
The mandate is clear:
Build a modern immigration system worthy of the American Dream.
Eradicate homelessness by providing real homes, not endless shelters.
Treat mental health with the same urgency we bring to physical health.
Harden our communities against the storms and fires of a changing world.
This is not charity. It is not ideology. It is survival. It is patriotism.
DOGE has given us the blueprint. It exposed the waste. Now it falls to the American people—and their leaders—to act.
Not just leaner government. Not just smaller government.
Smarter. Braver. More American government.
Let’s stop wasting billions abroad while our citizens suffer. Let’s put that $215 billion to work— Right here. Right now. For us. For America.
Disclaimer:
This essay blends factual data, real-world policy examples, and speculative analysis to propose a vision for better use of government savings. While many statistics, historical trends, and current crises are accurate and verifiable, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and certain 2024-2025 disaster events are fictionalized for illustrative purposes. The projected savings and programmatic impacts are based on reasonable estimates, not official government forecasts. This document is intended as a policy advocacy piece to inspire reform and deeper investment in American citizens.
