The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) canceled more than $180 million in contracts over 48 hours, including a nearly $170,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci museum exhibit.
“In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract [sic] worth $182 million,” The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in a Friday social media post. “These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses – none touched any healthcare programs. This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.”
The news comes as DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has continued to outline vast changes in government spending over the last few weeks, including a plan to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and sweeping changes at the U.S. Treasury Department aimed at eliminating over $100 billion per year in entitlement payments to individuals with no Social Security number.
ANTHONY FAUCI MAY BE DEPOSED AS GOP INTENSIFIES COVID INVESTIGATIONS IN NEW CONGRESS
President Donald Trump listens to Dr. Anthony Fauci at a briefing during the COVID-19 pandemic at the White House on April 17, 2020. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Seemingly no federal agency has been excluded from the reach of DOGE, with HHS being just the latest in a string of targets meant to eliminate waste from the federal government.
The Fauci exhibit was booked to be finished by July 2025, but has now been scrapped along with $182 million in other HHS administrative expenses.
Fauci has long been a controversial figure and has often clashed with President Donald Trump, who last month revoked the taxpayer-funded security detail for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that was requested for him in 2020 as he became the government’s public spokesperson during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“I think, you know, when you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off and, you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump said of the move. “We took some off other people, too, but you can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government.”
Fauci was given a preemptive pardon by former President Joe Biden on his last day in office, which was meant to shield the infectious disease expert from feared retribution from Trump during his second stint in the White House, though Fauci was not charged with any crimes at the time of the pardon.
Before serving as the chief medical advisor to the president during COVID-19, Fauci served nearly 30 years as the director of the NIAID between 1984 and 2022.
Dr. Anthony Fauci gives an update on the omicron variant of COVID-19 at the White House on Dec. 1, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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He started his career at the National Institutes of Health in 1968, and was widely praised for his efforts to confront HIV/AIDs before becoming the government’s public face during the pandemic.
HHS did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
