The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced it has canceled several National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants approved under the Biden administration.
The canceled grants included taxpayer-funded projects focusing on LGBT topics, which DOGE labeled as wasteful and frivolous.
Among the cut grants was a $350,000 award aimed at developing “interactive gay travel guides” designed to explore historical LGBTQ+ spaces.
Another $247,000 grant was intended to digitize “stories of transgender adults in the Pacific Northwest.”
A $60,000 grant planned to research how “LGBTQ+ cartoonists innovated comics in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Additionally, a $75,000 grant was set aside to study “the relationship between internet live streaming and LGBTQ+ communities.”
DOGE also canceled grants unrelated to LGBTQ+ causes.
For example, a $150,000 grant allocated for the excavation of “Egypt’s first industrial-scale brewery” was terminated, as Breitbart News reported.
Another $350,000 grant to create a Spanish-language version of Homosaurus.org, a database related to LGBTQ+ terminology, was also canceled.
DOGE said these grants represented a misallocation of taxpayer dollars approved by the previous administration.
The agency vowed that future NEH grants would be “merit-based” and focused on “non-DEI, pro-America causes.”
The cancellations alone have generated an estimated $163 million in taxpayer savings.
This is part of a broader effort by DOGE to cut wasteful spending, detect fraud, and renegotiate contracts across federal agencies.
DOGE reports total savings of approximately $170 billion across multiple departments since it began operations.
These savings amount to roughly $1,055.90 per U.S. taxpayer, a significant reduction in government waste.
According to DOGE’s savings leaderboard, the Department of Health and Human Services leads in cost-cutting efforts.
Following HHS are the General Services Administration and the Department of Education, which have also generated substantial savings.
On the lower end of savings are the Department of Veterans Affairs, NASA, and the Department of Transportation.
DOGE’s mission is to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and projects align with national interests.
The agency continues to review federal spending with a focus on eliminating unnecessary or politically motivated expenditures.
This move signals a shift away from identity-focused grants toward more traditional and merit-based humanities projects.
DOGE’s cancellation of these LGBTQ+ related grants reflects an emphasis on fiscal responsibility and government accountability.
Officials argue this approach better serves taxpayers by prioritizing grants that support America’s cultural and historical heritage.
DOGE’s social media statement emphasized the agency’s commitment to “non-DEI, pro-America causes” in future funding decisions.
These actions are part of the Biden administration’s broader rollback, representing a new direction in federal spending under DOGE’s oversight.
The public can expect continued scrutiny of grants that do not demonstrate clear merit or national benefit.
This shift in priorities has drawn praise from fiscal conservatives who advocate for limited government spending.
DOGE plans to maintain vigilance in rooting out government waste and ensuring transparency in all future grants.
As DOGE expands its oversight, taxpayers are hopeful for continued reductions in unnecessary expenditures.
The agency’s work marks one of the largest recent efforts to rein in federal spending in humanities and related areas.
