DOGE cancels Anthony Fauci museum exhibit in federal cutting spree

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) canceled more than $180 million in contracts over 48 hours, including a nearly $170,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci museum exhibit.“In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract [sic] worth $182 million,” The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in a Friday social media post.“These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses – none touched any healthcare programs.

This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at the NIH Museum.”The news comes as DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has continued to outline vast changes in government spending over the last few weeks, including a plan to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and sweeping changes at the U.S.Treasury Department aimed at eliminating over $100 billion per year in entitlement payments to individuals with no Social Security number.Seemingly no federal agency has been excluded from the reach of DOGE, with HHS being just the latest in a string of targets meant to eliminate waste from the federal government.The Fauci exhibit was booked to be finished by July 2025, but has now been scrapped along with $182 million in other HHS administrative expenses.Fauci has long been a controversial figure and has often clashed with President Donald Trump, who last month revoked the taxpayer-funded security detail for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that was requested for him in 2020 as he became the government’s public spokesperson during the COVID-19 pandemic.“I think, you know, when you work for government, at some point your security detail comes off and, you know, you can’t have them forever,” Trump said of the move.

“We took some off other people, too, but you can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government.”Fauci was given a preemptive pardon by former Pre...