Feb. 20 (UPI) — The Department of Housing and Urban Development has canceled $4 million in contracts that promote “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the latest in a string of cuts by the Trump administration to downsize the federal workforce and change the philosophy of American government.
“It is inexcusable the American taxpayer was footing the bill for the promotion of DEI propaganda,” HUD secretary Scott Turner said in a release Thursday.
“Not only was this costing millions of taxpayer dollars but it was also wasting valuable time that should have been used to better serve individuals and families in rural, tribal and urban communities. DEI is dead at HUD,” Turner declared.
He said the cuts are part of a larger and sweeping review of the department’s $260 million in contract expenses, and pointed to HUD’s Department of Government Efficiency Task Force that alleges that it found $1.9 billion in “misplaced” funds, according to a post on Turner’s X account.
The release said the cuts targeted contracts that were intended for “DEI culture transformation, including outward mindset training and diversity and inclusion research subscription services.”
President Donald Trump implemented DOGE just after his inauguration and, while he did not make him officially in charge of it, appointed SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to oversee its activities and root out government fraud, waste and mismanagement.
Musk has relished the attention, holding a press briefing in the White House next to Donald Trump wearing a black DOGE hat last week, claiming that government employees were getting rich at taxpayer expense.
Musk also appeared at the Conservative Political Action Committee 2025 meeting Thursday, wearing sunglasses, a black MAGA hat and holding a chainsaw aloft as he strode onstage amid raucous cheers from the crowd.
He also gave a wide ranging speech at the Republican National Convention and was thrust into the spotlight at Trump’s inauguration promising to make massive cuts to federal spending.
More than a dozen state attorney’s general have sued Musk over what they allege is “reckless behavior.”
Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders during his first four weeks in office, ranging from laying off employees in the U.S. Department of Agriculture who were overseeing the nation’s response to the avian flu to eliminating entire divisions of the Environmental Protection Agency.
He also targeted the U.S. Agency for International Development alleging government waste, and aimed to lay off nearly the entire staff. He also signed an executive order instantly shuttering funding for DEI programs and laying off employees tied to them.
In addition to the employees that have been laid off, another 75,000 have been offered buyouts to leave their jobs.
The Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Office of Personnel Management, Internal Revenue Service, General Services Administration, and Small Business Administration have also undergone staffing cuts.