WASHINGTON -- Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appears to be falling significantly short of the promised savings he touted over recent months. According to the New York Times, Musk admitted during a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump last week that DOGE is likely to end up reporting a savings of $150 billion for next year’s fiscal budget.
That number is far below the $1 trillion in savings Musk repeatedly claimed the agency would produce. As recently as March 10, Musk said in Fox News interview that DOGE would get to $1 trillion in savings “unless we’re stopped.”
The $1 trillion target came after Musk previously backtracked on claims to find up to $2 trillion in wasteful spending. While campaigning on Trump’s behalf last fall, the billionaire said he thought he could find $2 trillion in savings. However, Musk had already gone back on that claim before Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20.
DOGE was created by Trump via executive order and Musk was given control over the agency. Trump ordered DOGE to begin modernizing “Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
In his time with the agency, Musk has ordered the budgets of government agencies to be slashed, cancelled government contracts, and issued directives to cut staff throughout the government.
Several government offices in Michigan have been closed as part of DOGE’s efforts, along with the cancellation of grants and contracts.
DOGE reports the “savings” on its website, but in many cases, sufficient data is not present to support the claims. The New York Times reports that one claimed savings involved DOGE cancelling a contract that didn’t exist. The “contract” was actually a proposal that had not been finalized, however DOGE reported it as a savings of more than $300 million, the Times reports.
Another cancelled contract reported by DOGE was actually cancelled when former President Joe Biden was in office. A reported $1.75 billion grant for a vaccine nonprofit was cancelled and listed as a savings, however the nonprofit reported that it had already been paid in full, meaning the savings were $0.
An analysis of the DOGE claimed savings by The Times alleges the agency did not provide identifying details for approximately $92 million of the cuts.
Despite Musk’s comments about the savings, The White House reportedly said DOGE’s target savings is still $1 trillion. Whether or not Musk is involved in the future cuts is also in doubt. Earlier this month, Trump told reporters he expects Musk to return to his role as the head of Tesla and the social media platform X.
“I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run,” Trump said. “And so, at some point, he’s going to be going back.”
Because Musk is technically a special government employee, he can only work 130 days in a 365-day time period. While it is unknown how many days Musk has officially worked in the role, May 30 will mark 130 since Trump was inaugurated.
Trump would not say if DOGE will continue on if Musk is not running it, but did say he expects the agency to end at a certain point.