DeSantis says Florida returned $878M in taxpayer funds to federal government after meeting with Musk, DOGE

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said Friday that the state was returning more than $878 million to the federal government that it had been attempting to give back for the past few years during the Biden administration.

DeSantis’ office informed the U.S. Treasury Department that $878,112,000 would be returned to the federal government.

The governor said the move came after a meeting with billionaire Elon Musk and his team at the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

“For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration—but they couldn’t even figure out how to accept it,” DeSantis wrote Friday on X.

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“Today, I met with @elonmusk and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the same day,” he continued.

DeSantis suggested that other states “should follow Florida in supporting DOGE’s efforts!”

The governor’s office said in its email to the Treasury Department that it will search for additional excess federal funds that can be returned.

“At the direction of Governor DeSantis and following his meeting with Elon Musk today, the State of Florida is formally returning $878,112,000 in taxpayer dollars to the federal government as part of DOGE’s efforts,” the email said. “We will also continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funding granted to Florida and determine if further refunds can be made. We hope our actions serve as a model for other states to follow.”

Musk, who also serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, responded to the governor’s post on X.

“Almost a billion dollars of your taxpayer money saved,” Musk said on the social media platform.

DeSantis announced last month the creation of Florida’s DOGE task force to “further eliminate waste within state government, save taxpayers money, and ensure accountability in Florida.”

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“Florida has set the standard for fiscally conservative governance, and our new Florida DOGE task force will do even more to serve the people of Florida,” DeSantis said at the time. “It will eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste, and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat.”