Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that Florida had returned almost $1 billion in federal funds after meeting with Elon Musk.

“For years, Florida has been trying to return it to the federal government for the ideological strings attached by the Biden administration, but they have not even understood how to accept it,” the governor said in the A. post On X.: “Today I met @elonmusk and the Doge team. I accomplished this on the same day.”

For years, Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the federal government for the ideological strings attached by the Biden administration, but they have not even understood how to accept it. I met today @elonmusk And the Doge team, and we did this… pic.twitter.com/uwylopahbu

– Ron Desantis (@govrondesantis) March 21, 2025

“Other states should follow Florida in supporting Doge’s efforts!” DeSantis said.

The post was accompanied by an email from Desantis’s office to the US Treasury Department. The email was noted after a visit with Musk’s Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Florida returned the federal government $878,112,000 in taxpayer dollars.

The governor’s office said it will continue to identify other unused or surplus federal funds granted to Florida and determine whether further refunds can be made.

“We’ve saved almost $1 billion in taxpayer money,” Musk said. I said In response to Desantis’s post. (Related: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick addresses concerns.

The announcement comes a month after DaSantis revealed the creation of the Florida Doge Task Force. This is set to “eliminate waste within the state government, save taxpayers money, and ensure accountability in Florida.” According to press release.

“Florida has set financially conservative governance standards and our new Florida Dozi Task Force will do more to serve the people of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement. “We will eliminate redundant committees and committees, review the operations and spending of state universities and universities, use artificial intelligence to further explore state agencies to uncover hidden waste, audit local businesses’ spending habits, and shed light on waste and bloat.”

The Florida task force is set to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and to “serve the Florida people best.”