When Donald Trump took office in 2025, DOGE’s head at the time, Elon Musk, had pledged to cut spending by $2 trillion
With the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created to overhaul federal spending, slamming reports that it has been dissolved, enhanced scrutiny had grown on the savings the agency could achieve during its tenure.
Addressing reports of its dissolution, the agency wrote on X: “As usual, this is fake news from @Reuters. President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to modernize the federal government and reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Just last week, DOGE terminated 78 wasteful contracts and saved taxpayers $335M. We’ll be back in a few days with our regularly scheduled Friday update.”
How Much Did DOGE Really Save?
DOGE claimed billions in government savings through cancelling contracts, terminating grants and renegotiating leases. According to its website, the department reached $214 billion in savings as of November 24, estimating this to be worth $1,329.19 per taxpayer.
These savings were attributed to “asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”
However, multiple analyses suggest the real savings fell far below DOGE’s own estimates. In February, former Labour Department chief economist Betsy Stevenson said its total at the time was likely between $1 billion and $7 billion, rather than the $55 billion claimed. In August, Politico reported that of $32.7 billion in contract-related savings it could verify, the true figure was closer to $1.4 billion.
A CBS News investigation further found that DOGE had repeatedly inflated the value of cancelled contracts, including one it claimed was worth $8 billion, when the actual amount was $8 million.
How Much Was Spent in Running DOGE
Beyond questions over its accounting, DOGE’s actions may have cost the government money rather than saved it. In April, the Partnership for Public Service estimated $135 billion in losses during the department’s first 100 days, citing reduced productivity, repeated “fire-and-rehire cycles,” and paid leave. The analysis did not include litigation costs or reduced tax revenues linked to cuts at the IRS.
DOGE was also a key driver of government job losses. In a blog post last week, Kupor said 68,000 people had been hired in 2025, while approximately 317,000 employees had departed.
When Donald Trump took office in 2025, DOGE’s head at the time, Elon Musk, pledged to cut spending by $2 trillion, later revising the target to $1 trillion. To achieve this reduced figure, DOGE would have needed to deliver savings averaging $55.6 billion a month—far higher than the amounts now believed to have been achieved.
TLDR: D.O.G.E. saved next to nothing and cost the government money.
And killed 4.5 Million Children.
This is the answer. They likely DESTROYED our long-term viability.
Its goal wasn’t saving money, don’t pretend it was. Its goal was destroying parts of the government the oligarchs didn’t like, and/or wanted to take over for themselves.
True that, the attempted privatization of the flight controllers and the TSA is a good example.
Exactly. And the SpaceX contracts.
However, multiple analyses suggest the real savings fell far below DOGE’s own estimates. In February, former Labour Department chief economist Betsy Stevenson said its total at the time was likely between $1 billion and $7 billion, rather than the $55 billion claimed. In August, Politico reported that of $32.7 billion in contract-related savings it could verify, the true figure was closer to $1.4 billion.
Even so, this is incredibly short-sighted.
Governments need to calculate long-term impacts of everything they do, and I tell you doge cost the USA more money than it “saved”.
It all starts to make sense when you realize that the US government has turned into a gigantic money laundering machine, for the benefit of the Trump family of course.
Yeah further down they think it actually lost a minimim of about $130 Billion
In April, the Partnership for Public Service estimated $135 billion in losses during the department’s first 100 days, citing reduced productivity, repeated “fire-and-rehire cycles,” and paid leave. The analysis did not include litigation costs or reduced tax revenues linked to cuts at the IRS.
Just one more way Putin waged a war against the US without lifting a finger. Destroy from the inside.
Yeah but we opened ourselves up to this kind of manipulation by allowing an oligarchy to rise.
DOGE was a success only in that is canned all the investigations into Musk’s crimes. The costs are incalculable and ongoing.
I wonder about the DOGE bill in the long run. Including the costs of rebuilding important infrastructure they destroyed just for fun.
Super cool of the media to drop this on Friday afternoon when nobody cares
When you include all the legal fees surrounding DOGE I bet the true total is negative. When you include the damage caused by the decisions to do shit like cutting the screw fly breeding program the total gets even more negative.
In the post above it is ALREADY Negative BEFORE considering legal fees or loss of income due to IRS cuts.
The net is negative, the question is how many hundred billions.
Lies all the way down
