‘I’m chopping up the Pentagon’s plastic’: Trump ally tackles billions in credit card fraud

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is pushing a provision that would help attack wasteful spending within the Pentagon.

Earlier in the year, a DOGE audit revealed a shocking “$40 billion in annual expenditures throughout the government on 4.6 million credit cards – a number that’s nearly twice the number of active federal employees,” according to The Daily Mail. This is a travesty, especially when you consider the number of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet as their hard-earned money goes to funding trips to “‘high-risk locations’ including casino ATMs, bars and nightclubs.”

“After exposing sweeping abuse of government credit cards, I am chopping up the Pentagon’s plastic,” Ernst said in a statement to Daily Mail. “From casinos to bars and much more, bureaucrats have been swiping away and sending the American people the check.”

Americans wouldn’t leave their old credit cards sitting around, and there is no reason why taxpayer-funded credit cards should be treated any differently.

I have ensured that when Pentagon bureaucrats leave, their credit card are cut up. https://t.co/sMHzF1r9KX

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) July 18, 2025

While the provision will likely be popular among taxpayers, it’s unclear whether it will actually receive a vote before the Senate, as stuff like this is often voted down or even stripped entirely in the interest of getting the larger piece of legislation passed. In this case, it will be part of the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill that has already passed out of the Armed Services Committee.

“Washington insiders wouldn’t leave their own old credit cards floating around, and there is no reason why they should treat taxpayer-funded credit cards with less responsibility,” Ernst said.

But some moves have been made to punish those who recklessly spend money that is not their own.

“In 2020, a Texas National Guardsman was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to repay over $75,000 after it was uncovered that he used ‘General Services Administration and Department of Defense ‘fleet cards’ to purchase fuel and maintenance for government vehicles,’” DM noted. “Other similar instances of fraud are decades old, showing that misuse of government-issued credit cards has been a pervasive problem.”

“In 2005, an ex-US Army recruiter was arrested for using a ‘stolen card to purchase gasoline, automotive parts and food for his personal use and consumption in excess of $13,000,’” the article added. “A 2002 report by the Government Accountability Office noted that a ‘Fort Benning military cardholder charged $30,000 for personal goods and cash advances before and after retirement.’”