Untraceable Public Funds
POGO Report Reveals Hundreds of Millions in Taxpayer Grants Untraceable by Watchdogs
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Hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars meant for local communities cannot be traced, according to a new report by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). The watchdog group used data from WLOS and federal spending records to show that the majority of $958.6 billion in federal grants could not be linked to any specific county, city, or ZIP code.
The findings raise fresh questions about government accountability. They come as the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to cut waste, including a new "Do Not Pay" system that has already blocked millions of dollars from going to deceased recipients.
Most of $958 Billion in Grants Simply Disappears from Records
POGO author Sean Moulton analyzed data from USAspending.gov, the federal website built two decades ago to track where government money goes. His findings were stark. The vast majority of $958.6 billion in grant spending could not be traced to a specific place. That means watchdogs have no way to confirm the money reached its intended destination, according to KOMO News.
Grants are different from contracts. They flow to states, nonprofits, and local governments — often with less oversight. When location data is missing or vague, it becomes nearly impossible for anyone to check whether the money was spent properly, KATU reported.
USAspending.gov Was Built to Fix This Problem
The federal government created USAspending.gov roughly 20 years ago to make spending transparent. The idea was simple: track every dollar from Washington to its final destination. But POGO's report shows the system is falling short. Hundreds of millions in grant money still slips through without a clear record of where it went, according to Fox San Antonio.
The problem is not just missing data. Some grants list only a state or a federal agency as the recipient location. That makes it impossible to pinpoint which neighborhoods, towns, or counties actually got the money — or didn't, News Channel 9 reported.
Trump's Fraud Crackdown Highlights the Stakes of Sloppy Tracking
The POGO report lands at a sensitive moment. The Trump administration has made cutting government waste a top priority. Its new "Do Not Pay" system has stopped millions of dollars from being sent to people who are deceased. That early success has drawn attention to other gaps in the system, according to WGME.
But experts say stopping payments to dead people is the easy part. Untraceable grants are a harder problem. When billions flow out with no location data attached, even the most aggressive fraud-detection tools have nothing to work with, Idaho News reported.
Watchdogs Call for Better Data Before More Money Goes Out
POGO is pushing for stronger reporting rules on federal grants. The group wants agencies to require precise location data — down to the ZIP code — for every grant awarded. Without that, Moulton argues, the public has no real way to hold the government accountable for how it spends nearly $1 trillion in grant money, according to WACH.
The report does not accuse any agency of deliberate fraud. But it warns that sloppy record-keeping creates the perfect conditions for waste and abuse to go undetected. Better data, POGO says, is the first step toward fixing the problem, News 3 Las Vegas reported.
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