Donald Trump reacted to information from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which announced that the Veterans Affairs (VA) had paid nearly $60,000 to contractors to water eight plants. DOGE posted the revelation on March 6, 2025, and it drew the ire of conservative commentators. Trump was not the only official to address the scandal.
Secretary Doug Collins released a video announcing the massive cost-saving measures coming to the embattled program. For years the VA has been synonymous with mismanagement and graft. However, DOGE, with the full cooperation of Secretary Collins, has aimed to change that. Collins announced a sweeping agenda of change, which he hopes will reduce costs by $2 billion.
DOGE announced how the VA was spending thousands of dollars to keep a handful of office plants watered. “The VA cancelled a $56,000 contract to water ~8 plants for 5 years. This is ~$1400/plant/year. The contract has been canceled, and DOGE will water the plants free of charge. President Donald Trump reacted to the news that a ‘plant contractor was paid so much to water 8 plants by saying “Nobody knows what that is.”
The department has made a number of similar posts chronicling government graft. In response to this announcement, VA Secretary Doug Collins released a statement in support of DOGE. Collins began by explaining that this will not be the last announcement from his office. “Hey, everybody, you know it’s getting fast paced, and I keep coming to you with what we’re doing,” he began. “And hey, I’ve got a number, I got some big news for you. And look, this is why we talk about efficiency and getting the job done for veterans here at the VA right now, I’ve just been told we’re just the first step of almost 2 billion.”
He also took time to explain the scope of the graft. “That’s billion with a B that we found in contracts that are cutting those are things that we’re saving now that we can put back into health care benefits, making sure that we’re doing what the VA is supposed to and that is health insurance benefits, you know, it stand to reason,” he added. ” But hey, you got to see this. I’ve been given this report.”
The VA administrator adopted a comedic tone when discussing the massive waste. “So we were taking millions of contracts, in dollars, in contracts to create things like PowerPoint slides and meeting minutes. Folks, if you don’t know how to run PowerPoint slides, learn. It’s a tutorial on your computer. Go learn for free. It’s okay,” he humorously said.” Take your own notes. Wow. I’ll send you one of my pencils if you need one.”
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Collins says that millions in federal funds are wasted on juicy perks for executives. “We’ll be ready to go. And also, this last one kills me. It’s the millions of dollars for executive support. You know, I love you and I support you, but we can figure out how to do things on our own. We don’t need outside people coming in to help us with executive support,” the VA Secretary announced. ” Look, these are kind of think we have more coming. This is going to have some details.”
He ended his remarks by reiterating his commitment to cut $2 billion in spending. “There is going to be coming out for you, and also, there’s more contracts coming. So this is just the first of all, right, at 2 billion we got almost there,” he concluded. “There’s going to be more coming. But let me let you know, don’t feed the line of what DC is wanting to tell you, we are putting money back to veterans health, back to veterans benefits, and don’t let nameless sources even Senators and House members who want to scare you in media, who want to perpetuate the lie. We’re taking care of the veterans, I promise you that from day one.”
Watch the clip here:
Featured image from embedded video