Washington is finally waking up to the outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars on government credit cards that keep racking up charges long after bureaucrats have left their desks. A fresh push from Sen. Joni Ernst is aiming to slam the door on this nonsense with a bill that demands immediate deactivation of federally issued cards when an employee exits the federal payroll.

The Republican from Iowa, who leads the Senate DOGE Caucus, is rolling out the Deactivating and Eliminating Cards Linked to Inactive or Nonexistent Employees (DECLINE) Act. This legislation targets the bloated system where active cards outnumber actual workers, exposing a glaring loophole in federal spending controls.

“Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for bureaucrats to swipe away at casinos, night clubs and bars,” Ernst said to the New York Post.

She didn’t mince words on the urgency of reform. “It is long past time to DECLINE these absurd payments and ensure that when a federal employee stops working, their taxpayer-funded credit card does too. Bygone bureaucrats shouldn’t be allowed to treat government credit cards like gifts cards.”

This crackdown comes hot on the heels of a DOGE audit earlier this year that uncovered a shocking imbalance. The federal government had 4.6 million active credit cards floating around, fueling about $40 billion in spending through over 90 million transactions in the last fiscal year.

Compare that to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing only around 3 million federal employees at the time. That’s a million-plus extra cards begging for abuse in the hands of who-knows-who.

DOGE hasn’t been sitting idle since the revelation. They’ve already axed hundreds of thousands of these cards and beefed up internal guidelines to prevent future slip-ups in management.

But the problems run deeper, especially in defense circles. The Pentagon’s inspector general spotlighted nearly 8,000 credit card hits at dicey spots like casino ATMs over the past year alone.

Even more galling, auditors tallied up 3,246 transactions at nightclubs and bars. These weren’t quiet lunches—these splashed out during big events like the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve parties.

Ernst, the no-nonsense Hawkeye State senator who recently declared she won’t seek reelection in 2026, isn’t stopping at just introducing a bill. She’s demanding a full-scale probe from the Government Accountability Office into how agencies handle these plastic money pits.

Fraud cases she’s highlighting paint a vivid picture of why action is overdue. Take the Fort Benning incident, where a military cardholder stuck taxpayers with $30,000 in personal purchases, and the charges kept flying under the radar even after retirement.

Then there’s the Army recruiter who handed over his government card to a buddy. That friend went on a $13,000 shopping spree covering food, car parts, and other goodies—all on the public’s dime.

These aren’t isolated blunders; they expose a system ripe for exploitation, where oversight is as lax as a weekend in Vegas. Ernst’s DECLINE Act promises to cut off the tap by mandating automatic shutdowns tied to employment status.

Hardworking Americans footing the bill for federal excess have had enough of this swampy behavior. With DOGE leading the charge and leaders like Ernst stepping up, there’s hope for reining in the runaway spending that drains our national coffers.

As the fight against big government bloat intensifies, this bill could mark a turning point in holding bureaucrats accountable and protecting every dollar earned by everyday folks across the country.

Do you support Joni Ernst’s efforts to dismantle corruption in the federal government? Let us know by posting down below in the comments section!