40 U.S. Government Lies, Coverups & Abuses
The United States Government is no stranger to Lies, Coverups & Abuses. Here is a list of just 40 well-known examples.
We love our country, but we hate our government…and for good reason. The government of the United States is one of the most lying and corrupt governments on earth. We take comfort in a false belief that the things our government does is for our protection. After all, that’s why the government exists. But the truth is that there is no technology that our government possesses, that it will not eventually use on its own people.
Below is a summary, in no particular order, of 40 times our government has lied or covered up it’s own abuses against citizens or humanity … and that’s not even including the obvious one of the invention of nuclear weapons.
1. CIA Mind Control Program – MKULTRA – The CIA illegally administered drugs such as LSD to thousands of people without their knowledge and often ran experiments on them. Many people died and their families would never know how/why. The agency destroyed all files in 1973 so we will never know the full extent of the program or who was involved. Nobody was ever prosecuted or fired for the illegal destruction of files.
2. My Lai Massacre – American soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry; 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry; massacred as many as 500 Vietnamese civilians on March 16, 1968. Before murdering them, some women as young as 12 were gang raped. The government covered it up until they were busted by journalists in late 1969. Only 26 soldiers were charged … but only one was convicted on 22 counts. That man, Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader, served 3 1/2 years under house arrest. His sentence was commuted by President Richard Nixon.
3. Republican President Eisenhower authorized the CIA plot to kill Cuban citizens (communists) and Fidel Castro, as well as foment a rebellion in a program called Operation Mongoose in 1960.
4. In the 1920’s during prohibition, the Government forced companies that manufacture alcohol used for cleaners & solvents to include poison in the mixtures to stop people from distilling it for drinking. Over 10,000 people died as a result.
5. Area 51 Environmental Catastrophe. It’s not just about aliens. The U.S. Government denied the existence of the military base, known as Area 51 near Groom Lake in Nevada, from 1955 until 2013. The government would burn toxic materials on the base leading to dozens of military personnel with health problems, including cancer. But because the base didn’t officially exist, the service members had no recourse. The government just let them die without taking any responsibility. In 1993, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that exempts Area 51 from all environmental laws, furthering the injustice that future service members will face.
6. Under the direction of Attorney General Janet Reno, the FBI murdered 80 people; men, women & children, in an attack on a church compound in Waco, TX in 1993. With little to no evidence of a minor weapons charge, the FBI led a misinformation campaign against a church leader, David Koresh, in order to gain public support for a raid on the compound. They burned the people alive inside the building.
7. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. From 1930’s to the 1970’s, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted experiments on unwitting poor, black citizens in order to study the effects and progression of untreated syphilis. The government lied to them and promised them free medical care but instead gave them syphilis in order to monitor the effects.
8. Cigarettes are good for you. All the way into the 1960’s, tobacco companies bought and paid for politicians who created policies to encourage smoking, even lying to the Public by getting doctors to endorse the products as an aid to increase lung capacity. This all occurred while it was already known of the dangers. While we blame the tobacco companies, the Government was just as much involved in the deception.
9. CIA torture. Following 9/11, the CIA engaged in “enhanced interrogation” (ie: Torture) with suspected “terrorists”. They manipulated the definition of “terrorists” to include any person who might have the information needed to conduct an investigation into a terrorist plot. The details of the CIA operation were withheld from President Bush for 4 years.
10. DARPA hacks the weather for war. In 1993, the government built a facility in Gakona, Alaska known as HAARP (High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) in order to heat the ionosphere and manipulate the weather to enhance military objectives of war. Many now believe that it may be partly responsible for global warming and is used to feed the narrative for green initiatives.
11. In 1955, The FBI stalked Martin Luther King Jr. because of his involvement with the Montgomery bus boycott. They accused him of being a communist without any evidence. They assigned undercover operatives to infiltrate his inner circle and try to convince him to kill himself. King was just the highest-ranking member of the government’s widespread illegal tracking of “black activists”.
12. The Pentagon Papers. The DOD commissioned a study of the Vietnam War and the United States’ involvement from 1945 to 1967. It detailed how the government manipulated the public through the media into supporting the Vietnam War and how it lied not only to the public but to Congress. When journalist Daniel Ellsberg published the story, he was rewarded with criminal charges of conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property.
13. “The Nayirah Lie” of George HW Bush. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and Bush Sr. was looking for a way to justify a war. Kuwait is a non-NATO ally that we had no duty to defend or protect … unless we wanted to keep our greedy hands on their oil. Bush Sr. trotted out a 15-year-old girl named “Nayirah” who spun a horrific tale of Iraqi soldiers bursting into a hospital in Kuwait and removing babies from their incubators, to leave them dying on the floor. But it was all a lie. Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S. and was coached into a false story to gain sympathy for Bush’s war. In the end, it was Bush Sr. that killed babies when the U.S. bombing knocked out power to hospitals and those babies who were on ventilation died.
14. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Following 9/11, the government needed a scapegoat. Even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, they perpetuated a lie that he had weapons of mass destruction and was likely to use them against U.S. Allies. This gave President George Bush Jr. the excuse needed to invade Iraq. Aside from a few, inoperative gas projectiles, no “mass destruction” devices were ever found…. Bush made up the whole thing to justify an invasion.
15. Roswell Aliens, Not Aliens. In 1947, a crash of an alien spacecraft allegedly occurred in Roswell, NM. The Roswell Army Air Field reported in a press release that they recovered a “flying disk”. Within hours the story was recanted and the government proclaimed it was only a weather balloon. In 1994, the military admitted that they deliberately lied to the public and that the “weather balloon” was actually a top-secret military surveillance balloon code-named, Project Mogul. Once a liar, always a liar. There is no reason to trust anything they tell the public about this.
16. The USS Scorpion. In 1968 the U.S. Navy submarine USS Scorpion went missing in the Atlantic. The government lied to the public that the ship was lost due to an unexplained failure. 99 crewmen died. In 2010 it was revealed that the ship was likely destroyed by a Soviet submarine and that the government had known this since July of 1968 when the wreckage was found.
17. Agent Orange, Vietnam. More lies about Vietnam. The government used a chemical agent “herbicide” to deforest areas of Vietnam between 1962 & 1971. They dropped more than 19 million gallons, covering not only forests but people and animals. The government denied the cancerous effects of the material until 1983, when a settlement was reached. For their service and sacrifice, veterans were given approximately $3800 each.
18. Freedom of the press. The Nixon administration illegally wiretapped journalists put them on enemies lists and audited their tax returns. They censored news stations by threatening to revoke their broadcasting licenses. Seems oddly familiar with events today.
19. Democrat President Woodrow Wilson signed the “espionage act” which he used to imprison journalists and shut down newspapers that disagreed with his policies. It worked so well in stifling speech that the government continues to use that act to this day. Seems oddly familiar with events today.
20. Watergate. Young people may not be familiar with President Richard Nixon and “Watergate”. In 1972, Nixon authorized the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building to steal documents and tap phone lines. Witnesses testified against Nixon in Senate hearings. Ultimately, the coverup was worse than the crime and Nixon was forced to resign from office.
21. Obamacare. In an effort to push a socialist-style, single-payer health care system down the throat of the American people, President Barak (Barry) Hussein Obama (Soetoro) lied to the American people over and over about how they would be able to keep their doctor. Except, most wouldn’t be able to and Obama knew it at the time. You can’t keep a doctor that is either out of business or is not part of the “approved” system.
22. Nord Stream 2. Pulitzer prize journalist Seymour Hersh reveals that Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Biden all as much admitted his intent to do so if Russia invaded Ukraine … which they did, just 4 months later. Backing up Biden, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn told The Post “The United States was not involved in the Nord Stream explosion.” The report from Hersh reveals that they ALL lied to the American public because blowing up a vital supply line to a NATO ally could break up the coalition… not to mention it would open up U.S. targets to Russia as justifiable retaliation … causing WWIII.
23. PRISM. Edward Snowden, a CIA data analyst blew the whistle to reveal that the NSA had a secret program called PRISM, which is used to spy on U.S. Citizens’ email, internet activity, phone calls, and more. For his trouble, he has been living in exile in Russia while not one person in our government has been held accountable for their illegal & unconstitutional activity. Nobody, not even President Trump, has put a stop to this policy. The program marches on to this very day with the government spying on Americans for no legitimate reason.
24. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Nobody of sound mind believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 … or at least nobody believes that he did it alone. Witnesses testified to hearing shots from multiple locations. A “magic bullet” theory had to be concocted to explain the multiple wounds from the limited number of shots fired by Oswald’s location. Classified documents were supposed to be released in 1992 but every President since that time has extended the deadline. The last President to extend the deadline was Joe Biden who pushed it one last time to December 15, 2022 … Following that deadline, the national archives released 13,000 worthless documents. Keeping the juicy, top-secret stuff that reveals the truth, hidden from the public…probably forever.
25. Monica Lewinsky was hired as an intern for President Bill Clinton. Clinton took advantage of her naivete and engaged in oral sex (at least) with her in the oval office. He lied to the American People, as well as his wife, about the affair and was impeached. His famous line, “I did not have sex with that woman, Mrs. Lewinsky” rings in infamy and taught us how politicians can twist language… ie: “sex” is only “intercourse” and not “oral” … if that is what you believe when you give sworn testimony.
26. The “Iran-Contra Affair” was a secret U.S. arms deal that traded U.S. missiles and other arms to free some Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon but also used funds from the arms deal to support armed conflict in Nicaragua. The scandal might have brought down President Ronald Reagan if not for the loyalty of Oliver North … who took the brunt of the scandal on behalf of the President.
27. The “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal was headed by Attorney General Eric Holder, under the direction of President Obama in 2009. Fast and Furious was a Justice Department program that allowed government-owned assault weapons to be sold to Mexican drug cartels, allegedly as a way to track them. But internal documents later revealed the real goal was to gin up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in America. Fast and Furious was merely a pretext for imposing stricter gun laws.
28. The Man-Made Global Warming Lie. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been busted in tampering with temperature statistics by lowering previously measured temperatures to show cooler weather in the past and raising more recent temperatures to show warming in the recent present. This “green agenda” is a trillion-dollar gravy train that nobody wants to stop. But it’s not just about money, it’s also about control … control over your life. Because you can’t be trusted with making decisions for yourself.
29. The nuclear agreement with Iran by President Barak (Barry) Hussein Obama (Soetoro) sold to Congress & the American public permits Iran to possess nuclear weapons in about ten years (ie: 2026). The justification was that Capitalism had made the new Iranian government more moderate and proposed that the Iranians deserve to have Nuclear power (whilst it is being blacklisted in our own country). Ben Rhodes, a National Security Adviser in the Obama administration, bragged about the lies and stated that the intelligence community knew it was a lie all along.
30. 3 weeks to flatten the curve. “Flattening the curve” was a public health strategy to slow down the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The People were told that if we would all just mask up and stay home for 3 weeks, we would stamp out the virus… or at least enable our medical centers to keep up. It was all a lie to calm people with the bonus of taking away civil liberties. The lockdowns would last for 2-3 years, crushed many middle-class families, and shuttered tens of thousands of small businesses…while big business chains were barely affected.
31. “Operation warp speed” was a partnership between the Government and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021. To accomplish this, President Donald Trump allowed himself to be duped by the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony Fauci, into believing that tens of millions of people would die from the virus unless he (Trump) allows people to be injected with an experimental biological agent.
The began a campaign to deceive the public by redefining a “vaccine” to include the experimental biological agent. Not only did the “vaccine” not stop the spread, but it didn’t prevent infection either. In fact, it has massive side effects, including death… which the government refused to let people know about and continues to cover up to this day. Hundreds of thousands of people have died from the “vaccine” already and yet mandates for its continued use continue in some places.
32. The Russian Collusion Hoax. The Democrat National Committee (DNC) conspired, with funding from Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to slander and frame President Donald Trump with a conspiracy to steal the 2016 election with the help of the Russians. Many outlandish claims were made which have all been revealed to be false. Yet the media, in actual collusion with the DNC and the Biden administration, refuse to cover or investigate the truth.
33. Don’t get droned. “Anwar al-Awlaki” was targeted for assassination by the CIA for his suspected involvement in Al-Qaeda. He was considered “too dangerous” due to his lecturing and publications as an American-Yemeni imam (religious leader) and some people even referred to him as the “Bin Laden of the Internet.” On September 30, 2011, President Obama ordered his assassination and the CIA fired multiple missiles at his vehicle in Yemen, killing him and everybody else in the vehicle. While it is probably likely that Anwar al-Awlaki was indeed a terrorist, he was also an American citizen who was deprived of his right to due process and a trial by jury. He could have been captured, as many terrorists were, but instead, he was intentionally murdered by a President of the United States in order to send a message.
34. Ruby Ridge. In 1992 Randy Weaver was a doomsday prepper and a self-professed white separatist. He fled to his Ruby Ridge, Idaho home after failing to appear in court on ATF charges he received when he sold two sawed-off shotguns to an ATF agent. When U.S. Marshals and the FBI confronted his family outside his property on August 21, 1992 a brief gun battle ensued. Marshals shot Weaver’s dog, then shot Weaver’s 14-year-old son in the back as he ran away, killing him. Weaver’s friend, Kevin Harris then shot and killed a federal marshal. A standoff ensued and the next day an FBI sniper killed Weaver’s unarmed wife while she was holding her 10-month-old daughter. Weaver was wounded as well as a friend. Weaver surrendered two weeks later.
The jury acquitted Weaver of all charges except two, one of which the judge set aside. He was found guilty of one count, failure to appear, for which he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was credited with time served plus an additional three months, and he was then released. Kevin Harris was acquitted of all criminal charges.
In August 1995, the US government avoided trial on a civil lawsuit filed by the Weavers by awarding the three surviving daughters $1,000,000 each, and Randy Weaver $100,000 over the deaths of Sammy and Vicki Weaver.
No FBI agent or Marshal was ever held accountable for the murders of Weaver’s wife, son or dog.
35. “Project Serpo” was an alleged top-secret alien exchange program between the United States government and an alien planet called, “Serpo” which is located in the Zeta Reticuli star system.
In reality, Project Serpo was a disinformation campaign by United States Air Force Sergeant Richard C. Doty at the direction of the D.O.J. Office of Special Investigations (O.S.I.). The purpose of the campaign was to infiltrate the UFO circuit and slowly feed an ever-increasing absurd story in order to discredit discussions about alien civilizations and visitation. The real questions are, “Why did the government lie?” and “Why did the government feel the need to lie?” … to the American people about this issue.
36. “Stuxnet” was the world’s most sophisticated, mutating, computer virus ever created, sometime between 2005-2010. Developed by the NSA & Mossad (Israel Intelligence) under a program called “Operation Olympic Games”, this self-replicating virus was designed to infect a specific component in Iran’s uranium enrichment facility to cause them to self-destruct. But to get the virus into the air-gapped computer system, they literally and intentionally infected hundreds of millions of computers all over the world, probably even your own home computer, knowing that eventually it would affect a single USB flash drive and be inserted into the Iranians centrifuge system.
It cannot be understated … these governments were literally willing to infect the entire world to ensure that the virus would get into a single USB drive. And now this technology is being used by every nation-state in the world to attack the infrastructure of every other nation.
37. “Operation Northwoods” in 1962 was a false flag operation proposed by the U.S. Military to shoot down American planes and to bomb U.S. bases & cities (ie: Kill Americans) to create the illusion that the United States was under attack by Cuba and thus create a reason for a U.S. invasion. Fortunately, President Kennedy rejected the plan … of course, things didn’t work out too well for him.
38. On January 16, 1893, armed naval forces of the United States led a coup d’état to oust Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii. The queen surrendered under protest in order to avoid bloodshed. In 1898 the island territory was officially annexed as a U.S. Territory. Hawaii finally became the 50th State in 1959. The United States officially apologized to native Hawaiians in 1993…but offered no reparations.
39. Entrapment. FBI manipulates, entraps, and then arrests 4 individuals in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in October 2020. Two of the four were acquitted and the other two defendants ended up in a mistrial. Court records show that the FBI targeted the “militia group” (ie: an organized group of citizens upset with the Governor’s actions regarding COVID). The FBI infiltrated the group with no less than 4 federal agents who manipulated and radicalized the group into planning to kidnap the Governor. The group never actualized the plan. When it became clear that they were not going to follow through, the FBI arrested them on “conspiracy” instead.
40. A “Family Planning Program” was implemented in the 1970s in some African countries by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to curb the “problem” of African birth rates. Under the guise of “vaccines”, people were given high doses of Depo-Provera without their knowledge in order to cause permanent infertility. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, funded the operation through the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”.
These are just 40 of the most well-known lies & abuses that the United States Government has perpetrated upon the American People and the world. Our founding fathers did the best job they could in the creation of our governmental system, but they can only go so far. Mankind has a natural proclivity to corruption and susceptibility to evil. We must never lose sight of that and never get so lost in our own patriotism that we shut our eyes to our own government’s abuses.
Austin
Texas GOP Wants Closed Primaries. New Secretary of State Robert Howden Is Preparing to Fight Them.
Austin, TX – Texas Republicans spent years demanding control of their own primary. Now they have a new Secretary of State, Robert S. Howden, appointed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, and the man taking over the state’s election machinery is inheriting a lawsuit in which his office is expected to defend the very open primary system the GOP wants to dismantle.
The Republican Party of Texas filed the federal lawsuit in September 2025, arguing that Texas’ open primary system violates the party’s First Amendment right of association. Under the current system, Texas voters do not register by party and may choose which party’s primary to vote in during an election cycle. The GOP wants only registered Republicans participating in Republican primaries.
The case is pending in federal court in Amarillo before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.
And Robert S. Howden has now inherited it.
Howden Steps Into the Fight
Gov. Abbott appointed Howden as Texas’ 116th secretary of state on July 17, effective July 18. Howden previously served as Abbott’s senior adviser and director of legislative affairs and has worked in the administrations of four Republican governors. As secretary of state, he is Texas’ chief elections officer.
Abbott has been quite clear about where he stands.
At the 2026 Republican Party convention, he said Texas would eventually make clear that “only Republicans vote in Republican primaries.” Abbott has also said lawmakers “can and should be more responsive to Republicans than a judge may be,” indicating that he expects the Legislature to address the issue during the 2027 session.
But that doesn’t mean the Secretary of State’s office is supposed to simply surrender in court.
That was the position taken by Howden’s predecessor, Jane Nelson.
Nelson argued that changing Texas’ primary system was a job for the Legislature, not a federal judge. In an October 2025 statement, she said it was her responsibility to defend existing election laws and that she would implement whatever changes the Legislature lawfully enacted.
The Attorney General’s office took the opposite position.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sided with the Texas GOP, asking the federal court to strike down portions of the Texas Election Code governing open primaries. According to reporting by The Texas Tribune, Nelson’s lawyers said Paxton’s office gave them less than an hour’s notice before taking the opposing position.
So the Republican Party sued the Republican-controlled state government. The Republican Attorney General joined the plaintiffs. And the Republican Secretary of State fought the lawsuit.
That’s not exactly the tidy party unity politicians like to advertise.
The Real Fight Is Over Who Controls the Nomination
The GOP argues that crossover voting allows Democrats and independents to influence Republican nominations, potentially helping candidates who are less conservative than the party base.
The lawsuit specifically pointed to the 2024 Republican primaries involving former House Speaker Dade Phelan and Rep. Gary VanDeaver. Both won their races by fewer than 800 votes, and the party argued that crossover voters helped determine the outcomes.
The party has already made closing primaries an official priority. Republicans adopted rules supporting closed primaries in 2024 and renewed that push at their 2026 convention.
But changing the system is not as simple as flipping a switch.
Texas has more than 18 million registered voters, and the state’s registration system was never designed around party registration. Moving to closed primaries could require new registration procedures, computer-system changes and a method for existing voters to establish party affiliation.
The GOP wants the courts to clear the way, preferably in time for 2028.
Art & Culture
McKinney Approves Controversial Islamic Center After Marathon Meeting That Exposed Deep Divisions
McKinney, TX – After nearly six hours of emotional testimony, shouted applause, boos, and police intervention, the McKinney City Council unanimously approved plans Tuesday night for a new Islamic center, closing another chapter in a debate that has simmered in Collin County for years. The vote may have been unanimous, but it certainly wasn’t uncontroversial.
Just before 11:30 p.m. on August 4, the council voted 7-0 to approve the site plan for the McKinney Islamic Association‘s proposed campus on roughly 5.5 acres at Virginia Parkway and Crutcher Crossing. City officials repeatedly emphasized that the decision before them was not whether Islam should have a place of worship in McKinney, but whether the submitted site plan complied with existing city ordinances and development standards. According to council members, the property’s current planned development zoning already permits religious assembly, leaving the city with little legal discretion to deny an otherwise compliant application.
The approved project includes a roughly 15,000-square-foot sanctuary, a classroom building of approximately 10,000 square feet, a 7,000-square-foot multi-purpose gymnasium, parking, and related site improvements. The McKinney Islamic Association says its current facility, where it has served the community for decades, can no longer accommodate its growing congregation.
The meeting itself became the story.
More than 150 people registered to speak, forcing city officials to delay the start of the regular meeting while names were entered into the system. Supporters and opponents packed the council chambers, overflow rooms, and hallways, creating an atmosphere that multiple local news outlets described as tense and, at times, hostile.
Opponents raised a mix of concerns.
Some focused squarely on practical issues, including increased traffic, parking shortages, neighborhood compatibility, and whether a campus serving large numbers of worshippers could comfortably fit on the site. Others voiced broader objections rooted in concerns about Islamic doctrine, Sharia law, and the changing cultural landscape of North Texas. Congressman Keith Self, whose district includes McKinney, spoke against the proposal before public testimony began, warning of dangers he associates with extremist interpretations of Islam.
Supporters argued that the project involved a long-established congregation simply seeking room to grow. They pointed to constitutional protections for religious liberty and rejected accusations directed toward the association as prejudice against Muslim residents. Veterans, longtime community members, and faith leaders urged the council to evaluate the application based on municipal law rather than religious disagreement.
Former McKinney Mayor George Fuller received one of the night’s harshest public receptions after speaking in support of the project. He was booed by portions of the crowd, and according to WFAA, police escorted him from the building after a woman reportedly shoved a sign reading “Don’t Sharia My Texas” into his shirt while he exited the meeting.
Despite the emotional testimony, council members repeatedly returned to the same legal conclusion, the site plan either met the city’s development requirements or it did not. Planning and Zoning had already recommended approval in July, and council members indicated denying a compliant application would almost certainly expose the city to litigation it was unlikely to win. Previous proposals involving substantially larger facilities required rezoning and were rejected, but the revised plan fits within the property’s existing zoning framework.
The approval does not authorize immediate construction. The project must still complete platting requirements, undergo a traffic study, and obtain building permits before construction can begin.
Below is the list of the current city council that voted 7/0 to approve the project.
| Member Name | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Cox | Mayor | |
| Rick Franklin | Mayor Pro Tem – District 4 | |
| Justin Beller | Council Member – District 1 | |
| Patrick Cloutier | Council Member – District 2 | |
| Geré Feltus | Council Member – District 3 | |
| Ernest Lynch | Council Member – At Large 1 | |
| Michael Jones | Council Member – At Large 2 |
Austin
‘The Taxpayer’s Comptroller’: Don Huffines Sworn In, Refuses Salary and Pledges to Slash Waste
Austin, TX — Don Huffines officially took the oath of office Saturday as Texas Comptroller, beginning his tenure as the state’s chief financial officer with a series of promises aimed squarely at fiscal conservatives: refuse a taxpayer-funded salary, root out government waste, pursue additional property tax relief, and faithfully administer Texas’ new school choice program.
Huffines was sworn into office after being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Comptroller Kelly Hancock. As Comptroller, Huffines will oversee the state’s accounting systems, tax collections, revenue estimates, and fiscal management while serving as one of Texas’ highest-ranking statewide officials.
The ceremony marks the beginning of Huffines’ service as comptroller ahead of the November general election, where he will appear on the ballot seeking a full term against Democratic nominee and State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt. Entering the race as the incumbent provides Huffines with both the visibility and responsibilities that come with holding statewide office.
Refusing a Taxpayer-Funded Salary
One of Huffines’ first announcements after taking office was that he will not accept the Comptroller’s salary.
The decision mirrors his previous service in the Texas Senate, where he also declined compensation, arguing that public office should be about serving Texans rather than collecting a government paycheck.
“I will not accept a salary,” Huffines said, emphasizing his belief that elected officials should demonstrate fiscal restraint beginning with themselves.
While the Comptroller’s salary represents only a tiny fraction of the state’s overall budget, the move is intended to reinforce Huffines’ message that government leaders should model the same financial discipline they expect from taxpayers.
Property Tax Relief Remains Top Priority
Huffines also made clear that reducing Texans’ property tax burden will be one of his central objectives.
Although the Comptroller does not directly set property tax rates, the office plays a significant role in state finances and revenue forecasting. Huffines said he intends to use the position to encourage local governments to reduce property taxes instead of expanding spending as state sales tax revenues continue to grow.
Property taxes have become one of the most contentious issues in Texas politics in recent years. Despite multiple rounds of tax relief approved by the Legislature, many homeowners have continued to see rising tax bills due to increasing property values and local government spending.
Huffines has long advocated for more aggressive property tax reductions and used his swearing-in ceremony to reaffirm that commitment.
Promising a More Aggressive Watchdog
Beyond taxes, Huffines pledged to aggressively identify wasteful government spending.
He said the Comptroller’s office should function as a watchdog over taxpayer dollars, focusing on eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and unnecessary expenditures throughout state government.
The comments are consistent with Huffines’ long-standing reputation as one of the Legislature’s more fiscally conservative voices and suggest he intends to bring a more activist approach to the Comptroller’s office than simply managing the state’s books.
As the state’s chief financial officer, the Comptroller prepares revenue estimates that guide legislative budgeting and oversees billions of dollars in state finances, giving the office substantial influence over fiscal policy even without direct legislative authority.
School Choice Program Now Under His Oversight
Huffines also assumes responsibility for overseeing the financial administration of Texas’ new Education Freedom Account program, one of Gov. Abbott’s signature legislative accomplishments.
The program allows qualifying families to use state funds for approved educational expenses outside the traditional public school system. Because the Comptroller’s office is responsible for administering the program’s financial operations, Huffines will immediately play a central role in ensuring the initiative functions as intended.
Supporters view the program as expanding educational opportunities and parental choice, while critics have questioned its impact on public education funding. Regardless of the political debate, the Comptroller’s office will be responsible for ensuring taxpayer dollars are properly managed and accounted for.
Abbott Praises Huffines’ Private-Sector Experience
Gov. Greg Abbott praised Huffines during the transition, pointing to his business background and commitment to conservative fiscal principles.
Abbott has said Huffines’ experience in the private sector makes him well suited to oversee the state’s finances and continue Texas’ reputation for responsible fiscal management.
Huffines built his career in real estate development before entering public service and previously represented portions of Dallas County in the Texas Senate.
Looking Toward November
Although Huffines is now serving as Comptroller, Texas voters will still decide in November who will hold the office for the coming term.
His appointment gives Republicans an incumbent candidate heading into the election while allowing Huffines to begin implementing his priorities immediately rather than waiting until after Election Day.
His opening message leaves little doubt about the direction he intends to take the office: emphasizing smaller government, increased accountability, reduced spending, and continued efforts to lower the tax burden on Texans.
Whether those priorities translate into measurable policy changes will become clearer in the months ahead, but Huffines began his tenure with a clear signal to taxpayers that he intends to make fiscal conservatism the defining theme of his administration.
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