Instead of drawing out the big mystery over how much of your money Washington wastes on improper payments, I'll just tell you right up front: In the 20 years between 2003 and 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the total money blown on payments made in error, or in the wrong amount, or with no documentation (!!!) is $2.7 TRILLION.
That's a two followed by a seven followed by 11 zeroes. That's almost double what we spent last year on Medicare/Medicaid combined, or on Social Security. It's triple last year's defense budget. It's almost triple the unconscionable amount we spent last year just servicing Washington's outstanding debt.
It is almost exactly the same amount Washington collected last year in personal income taxes. And if that doesn't make your blood boil, you must be reading this inside a walk-in freezer, chewing on a mouthful of Lopressor.
The incomprehensible numbers come from a Cicero Institute report earlier this year titled "Rebuilding Public Trust by Ensuring Accountability in Government Spending."
Dream on, right?
Here's this week's item from Cicero that drew my attention to the astonishing sum:
$2.7 TRILLION in improper payments has been reported by executive agencies since 2003 — per GAO, payments made in error, in the wrong amount, or without proper documentation.
— Cicero Institute (@InstituteCicero) August 18, 2026
If 'improper payments' were a country, it would be the 8th largest economy in the world — larger than…
Maybe this is where you shrug and say, "Well, things could be worse."
And then that's when I'd say, "Oh, they are."
You saw that one coming, didn't you?
So let's take a close look at just how much worse, and then maybe we'll do a couple shots of tequila together. We'll start with Cicero's GAO chart so you can visualize how the improper payments problem has done nothing but grow over the years — particularly during the 2020-2021 COVID madness.
"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated that up to 10 percent of the federal budget is lost to fraud," Cicero reported, "citing a GAO analysis of 2018–2022 data that put annual losses between $233 billion and $521 billion."
My first question was whether the dollar figures were adjusted for inflation, and the answer was no.
Adjusting for inflation, Washington misspent or unaccountably spent a grand total of $3.325 TRILLION, not $2.7 TRILLION — almost a quarter more.
But why stop in 2023 like Cicero did, when we have figures extending through 2025? And more inflation, too. So just to keep things current — and you chewing down those Lopressor tablets — the 2003–2026 inflation-adjusted total is about $3.9 TRILLION.
The entire federal budget, still using constant dollars, didn't exceed $3.9 TRILLION until 2017.
As I said earlier, the numbers are incomprehensible.
And Another Thing: I keep putting TRILLION in all-caps because a number that big deserves it.
I posted this Guy Benson item earlier today on Instapundit, but it bears repeating here.
A disgrace. Republicans are the fiscally irresponsible party, Democrats are the fiscally insane party. Voters claim they want this addressed, but don’t really act accordingly. Meaningful solutions are demagogued to the hilt — so further toward the fiscal abyss we climb. 🤢 https://t.co/BzvCQ5ZbrZ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 20, 2026
A meme circulated during the early, exciting days of DOGE last year that if we just eliminated fraud, we could eliminate the deficit, but I have to throw cold water on that before you get too excited again over today's numbers, staggering though they are.
Sure, Washington paid out $3.9 TRILLION it shouldn't have since 2003, but that miserable swamp town also added a little more than $33 TRILLION in new debt— or eight-and-a-half times more.
While I don't doubt there's more fraud to be found, particularly in federal healthcare spending, it seems unlikely to come anywhere close to our annual $2 TRILLION-plus deficits.
Washington has a problem with fraud and lack of accountability, sure. But the real problem is voters who demand more spending than we can afford, and irresponsible politicians who refuse to be the grownups and tell us no.
Recommended: The Strait of Hormuz Is Open. Also Closed. It’s Complicated.
Save money. Get cool stuff.
PJ Media VIP members get tons of exclusive goodies, including podcasts and video live chats with your favorite writers. You can support alternative conservative news and save 60% with promo code FIGHT.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member