Among all the cuts the Department of Government Efficiency has been making, few have been so satisfying to Republicans as the cancellation of a planned museum exhibit about Anthony Fauci, the NIH official who was instrumental in imposing government shutdowns and mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exhibit was canceled by DOGE as one of 62 administrative contracts at the Department of Health and Human Services last week.

It was scheduled to be completed in July 2025 at a cost to taxpayers of $168,000.

Insult to injury

The cut was made just days after President Donald Trump removed Fauci's government-funded security detail, which was installed in 2020 when he was Trump's health adviser during the pandemic.

"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 decision. "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."

That's more money--probably six figures a year--that taxpayers will be saving under Trump.

Fauci faces major animosity from Americans who felt the pandemic response--especially mask and vaccine mandates--was overdone.

Former President Joe Biden pardoned Fauci pre-emptively on his last day in office even though Fauci was never charged with a crime.

The cuts continue

DOGE has been looking into various agencies to see what cuts can be made. It wants to completely get rid of USAID, a source of foreign aid money that was being used to fund woke projects.

The newly formed department is also looking to cut over $100 billion in entitlements to people with no social security numbers.

DOGE announced the canceled HHS contracts on X on Friday, noting that no health care services were cut, only administrative expenses.

In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract worth $182 million. 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. pic.twitter.com/EsZxflPS6w

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 7, 2025

The ultimate goal of DOGE is to cut two trillion dollars from the bloated federal budget in order to balance it and stop taking on new debt.

The U.S. debt currently stands at $36.22 trillion, an almost unfathomable amount.