Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said he returned $878 million to the federal government on behalf of Florida on Friday after meeting with Elon Musk as part of the Department of Government Efficiency. 

"At the direction of Governor DeSantis and following his meeting with Elon Musk today, the State of Florida is formally returning $878,112,000 in taxpayer dollars to the federal government as part of DOGE's efforts," DeSantis said in a letter to the Treasury Department. "We will also continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funding granted to Florida and determine if further refunds can be made. We hope our actions serve as a model for other states to follow."

DeSantis shared part of the letter on X.

For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration—but they couldn't even figure out how to accept it. Today, I met with @elonmusk and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the… pic.twitter.com/uWyloPAhBU

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 21, 2025

"Got this done"

"For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the Biden Administration—but they couldn't even figure out how to accept it," he captioned the post. "Today, I met with @elonmusk and the DOGE team, and we got this done in the same day. Other states should follow Florida in supporting DOGE's efforts!"

DeSantis said in February that it was creating its own DOGE task force to identify waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars in his state.

The Texas legislature just created the Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency for the same reason.

While Republicans have generally supported DOGE and Musk, Democrats have fought it every step of the way.

Temper tantrums

So far, Musk and DOGE have cut thousands of government jobs and eliminated whole departments that Trump and Musk agree are redundant or unneeded.

In some cases like the Department of Education, the agency actually seems to have hurt rather than helped its constituents (school children).

Democrats and liberals who see their government gravy train leaving the station never to return are throwing temper tantrums that include lawsuits against Trump and DOGE and even targeting Tesla dealerships with vandalism that has led to several arrests.

Musk owns Tesla, and in some cases those who oppose him for allying with Trump have sold their Teslas in a boycott of his brand.

It's true that DOGE is causing a good amount of chaos in the government, but it has to happen if we have any hope of ever balancing the budget and paying back our $36 trillion-plus in U.S. government debt.

Short-term job losses will lead to better things for everyone if Trump can find a way to make this work without all the liberal judges ruling against him to stop it.