Absent a Key Tracking Code – One America News Network
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:00 PM – Tuesday, February 18, 2025
On Monday, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) disclosed that approximately $4.7 trillion in payments from the Treasury Department were “nearly impossible” to trace due to the absence of a vital tracking code.
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According to DOGE, the transactions were missing the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS), a numeric identifier that links a Treasury payment to a specific budget item. DOGE characterized the use of the TAS as a “standard financial practice.”
“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for around $4.7 Trillion in payments and was frequently left blank, resulting in nearly impossible traceability,” stated a post on X from DOGE.
As a result of this finding, the TAS code is now a requirement.
“Starting Saturday, this field is now mandatory, enhancing clarity on the actual disbursement of funds,” DOGE remarked, crediting the Treasury Department for its “excellent efforts” in executing the change.
“This was a collaborative initiative involving [DOGE, Treasury, and the Federal Reserve],” Musk posted on X, commending the effort. “Great job by everyone.”
Thus far, DOGE has successfully recovered $55 billion for the federal government by identifying waste, fraud, and excessive spending—and this is just the beginning.
“The savings stem from a mixture of fraud detection/deletion, cancellations and renegotiations of contracts/leases, asset liquidations, grant terminations, workforce cuts, program adjustments, and regulatory savings,” stated DOGE on its website.
One of the first agencies DOGE engaged with after President Donald Trump’s inauguration was the Treasury Department, which manages trillions in federal payments each year.
To tackle waste, fraud, and abuse, DOGE staff have been granted access to the Treasury’s sensitive payment systems.
“This isn’t just a random group… It’s systematic, and it’s going to lead to significant savings,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remarked in a Bloomberg TV interview regarding DOGE.
Recently, DOGE also suggested eliminating paper checks, arguing that taxpayers could save “at least $750 million annually.”
To manage the over 100 million checks processed by the Treasury Department each year, a “physical lockbox” must be maintained, incurring a cost of approximately $2.40 per check, as indicated by the initiative.
Additionally, DOGE reported that around $25 billion in tax refunds were either lost or delayed in the fiscal year 2023 due to rejected or expired checks.
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