Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continue to send shockwaves through Washington D.C. with the consistent discoveries of massive government waste and spending.

According to Fox News, Musk and DOGE found something very interesting and especially alarming when going through the U.S. Treasury's books, noting a "nearly untraceable" line item of $4.7 trillion in payments.

The particular code on the data was left blank, making it difficult to know what the payments were for.

DOGE made the announcement in an X post that quickly garnered attention due to the number that's attached to it.

What's going on?

Musk and DOGE gave a quick summary of what they found at the U.S. Treasury and what it could mean.

"The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process)," DOGE wrote in a post on X.

They added, "In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going."

The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process).

In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost…

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 17, 2025

Fox News noted:

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which is under the Treasury, TAS codes are used to describe any one of the account identification codes assigned by the Treasury and is also referred to as the "account."

The discovery marked a major win for DOGE and for the Treasury Department, as now such line items will point to what the money was used for instead of leaving everyone guessing.

Social media reacts

The discovery led to a mountain of feedback across social media, with many wondering how such a seemingly simple error could have been missed for so long.

"Where has congress been all these years? How did so many things get out of wack. Has all of Congress been asleep at the wheel?" one X user asked.

Another X user wrote, "Can you please provide some identifying information or sources so we can confirm this? I've heard all sorts of reasons (COBOL memory, payments not processing, etc) mudding the water."

It'll be fascinating to see what DOGE uncovers in the coming weeks and months, that's for sure.