A proposed taxpayer-funded exhibit honoring Dr. Anthony Fauci has been scrapped after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) uncovered the outrageous spending. The $170,000 project, which was meant for the National Museum of Health and Medicine, was among dozens of contracts eliminated in a major review of wasteful federal expenditures.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had approved the spending as part of its administrative budget. In total, 62 contracts worth $182 million were canceled, with none affecting actual healthcare services. DOGE officials questioned why taxpayer money was being used to promote Fauci’s legacy while many Americans still blame him for the country’s harshest COVID-19 policies.
Elon Musk, who leads DOGE, revealed the cuts and highlighted how unnecessary the Fauci exhibit was. The cancellation follows a series of moves by the Trump administration to remove taxpayer-funded perks from former officials. Just last month, President Donald Trump revoked Fauci’s government-funded security detail, cutting off another financial benefit that he had continued to receive long after leaving office.
Fauci’s name remains at the center of controversy. As the head of NIAID, he played a major role in pandemic policies that led to extended lockdowns, school closures, and vaccine mandates. His actions sparked national outrage, making it even more shocking that public money was being spent to honor him with a museum exhibit.
Despite a pardon from former President Joe Biden covering his actions as far back as 2014, Fauci remains under legal scrutiny. A group of state attorneys general has opened an investigation into his pandemic-era decisions, seeking to determine whether he violated any state laws while overseeing public health measures.
With the cancellation of the exhibit, DOGE has once again cut down on taxpayer-funded projects that provide little benefit to Americans. As the agency continues reviewing federal contracts, more examples of government waste could be exposed in the coming months.
