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Heather Cox Richardson DOGE To Replace Functioning Secure Smart PaY to Questionable Private Company, RAMP 4/21/2025

Heather Cox Richardson DOGE To Replace Functioning Secure Smart PaY to Questionable Private Company, RAMP 4/21/2025

On April 17, Christopher Bing and Avi Asher-Schapiro of ProPublica reported that the administration is looking to replace the federal government'’s $700 billion internal expense card program, known as SmartPay, with a contract awarded to the private company Ramp. Ramp is backed by investment firms tied to Trump and Musk.

While administration officials insist that SmartPay is wasteful, both Republican and Democratic budget experts say that's wrong, according to Bing and Asher-Schapiro. “SmartPay is the lifeblood of the government,” former General Services Administration commissioner Sonny Hashmi told the reporters. “It's a well-run program that solves real world problems...with exceptional levels of oversight and fraud prevention already baked in.”

“There's a lot of money to be made by a new company coming in here,” said Hashmi. “But you have to ask: What is the problem that's being solved?”

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