“Billion Dollar Boondoggle”: DOGE Takes Aim at New Target Wasting Billions on Absurd Program

Republicans have launched a new effort to roll back the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles. Lawmakers from the DOGE Caucus have introduced a new bill to defund a multi-billion dollar program for a useless U.S. Postal Service (USPS) EV initiative. To correct this waste, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) introduced the humorously titled “Return to Sender Act” on March 10, 2025.

The act intends to end the $3 billion program passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Proponents said that developing electric mail trucks would create jobs and make mail delivery more efficient. However, critics have cited significant delays and massive overruns. The two representatives have said this is a classic example of government waste.

The program has been swamped with issues. Defense contractor Oshkosh was supposed to deliver “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles” (NGDVs). However, production has run behind schedule. The slow delivery is especially irritating given the massive funding the project has received. Sen. Joni Ernst emphasized this point in remarks she gave to Fox News Digital.

“Biden’s EV postal fleet is lost in the mail,” she explained.“The order needs to be canceled with the unspent money returned to sender—the taxpayers. I am defunding this billion-dollar boondoggle to stamp out waste in Washington. Tax dollars should always be treated with first-class priority.” Rep. Michael Cloud, who cooperated on the act, offered his own take on the floundering program.

“This law funneled billions into a failed USPS EV project that has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs,” Cloud expressed to Fox. “Three years later, taxpayers are still waiting while the Postal Service refuses to provide basic transparency on where the money went.” The Post Office, through spokesperson Kim Frum, deflected criticism by emphasizing the environmental benefits of EVs.

“From the start, USPS committed to purchasing the most environmentally sustainable vehicles across the organization’s entire fleet, consistent with financial and operational considerations,” she said. “Deliveries of new NGDVs to the Postal Service remain on track to the contracted schedule.” However, reports indicate that the USPS might have been overestimating the success of the program.

The initial program called for 60,00 trucks; however, by November 2024, only 93 had been delivered. If the program were really on track, as the USPS spokeswoman claimed, 3,000 NGDVs should have been built. The Postal Service, which has long been infamous for financial mismanagement, agreed to pay more for the trucks after Oshkosh raised prices.

Under the current contract, the price per NGDV ballooned to $77,692 per unit. Despite the obvious woes, John Pfeifer, Oshkosh CEO, told investors the company was “really happy where we are.” Even though Pfiefer and the USPS are optimistic, workers on the production team are more realistic. “This is the bottom line: We don’t know how to make a d*mn truck,” said one anonymous source.

Watch a clip about the NGDV trucks here: