Elon Musk's DOGE Decimated Federal Agencies, Axed Major Programs — Yet Federal Spending Continued to Rise: Report

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion, but a recent report reveals its efforts largely failed. Despite firing federal employees and canceling programs, spending rose, with many reported cuts proving inaccurate or exaggerated.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk made headlines at the CPAC conference when he wielded a chainsaw on stage, launching the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an effort to overhaul the U.S. government. His message was clear: he promised to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion. However, according to a recent report by The New York Times, despite DOGEs efforts to fire federal employees, cut budgets, and cancel grants and programs, federal spending has continued to increase rather than decrease.

Claims of Major Cuts and Their Impact

The New York Times report, written by Emily Badger, David A. Fahrenthold, Alicia Parlapiano, and Margot Sanger-Katz, outlines how DOGE's efforts were less effective than expected. Despite the agency's announcement of over 29,000 cuts within the federal governmentsuch as terminating billion-dollar contracts, canceling thousands of grants, and eliminating federal workersthe promised $1 trillion reduction in spending by October failed to materialize. In fact, data from the U.S. Treasury Department revealed that federal spending increased rather than decreased during DOGEs tenure.

The Causes Behind the Budget Shortfall

Several factors contributed to the failure of the budget cuts. One of the primary reasons was that many of DOGEs reported savings turned out to be inaccurate. For example, The New York Times examined a list of contracts and grants that DOGE claimed to have canceled, uncovering significant discrepancies:

• Defense Department Contracts: DOGE falsely reported the cancellation of contracts worth billions of dollars. Specifically, Musks team claimed to have saved $7.9 billion from two major Defense Department contracts, but those contracts were still active, meaning the reported savings were illusory.
• Limited Accuracy of Claims: Of the 40 largest cuts DOGE claimed to have made, only 12 were verified as actual reductions in federal spending.

Inconsistencies and Errors in DOGE's Claims

The New York Times investigation also revealed multiple issues with DOGEs reported cuts:

• Double Counting: Some cuts, such as the cancellation of a Department of Energy grant, were counted twice, inflating the reported savings by $500 million.
• Misrepresentations of Timelines: DOGE took credit for canceling contracts that had already been terminated during the Biden administration or were set to expire naturally.
• Exaggerating the Actual Impact: In many cases, DOGE claimed credit for canceling contracts that werent actually canceled at all, or only reduced in terms of their theoretical maximum value without cutting actual spending. A notable example involved the manipulation of Defense Department contracts, where the agency reduced the ceiling value of a contract, lowering the theoretical maximum the government could pay, but not impacting the actual spending.

Expert Opinion: Is DOGE Truly Cutting Spending?

Travis Sharp, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, criticized DOGEs methods, pointing out that lowering the maximum limit on a credit card doesnt save money. Sharp suggested that DOGEs efforts were more about optics than actual fiscal responsibility. Many of the cuts were superficial, failing to target the largest contributors to federal spending, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and national debt interest.

Further Inefficiencies and Exaggerations

Beyond the problematic accounting tricks, some of DOGEs cuts were criticized for being inefficient or wasteful. For example, the cancellation of work by outside analystswho provided vital reports on the effectiveness of taxpayer-funded programswas viewed as a setback for federal efforts to improve services. Additionally, the agency demanded cuts without considering the long-term consequences, such as canceling studies just before they were set to release important data.

Conclusion: A Step Backward?

Despite Musk's ambitious plans and the significant disruption caused by DOGE's restructuring, the overall outcome was not the promised savings. Instead, it revealed a pattern of flawed claims, inefficiencies, and a lack of meaningful cuts to the largest drivers of federal spending. As highlighted in The New York Times report, while some cuts were made, DOGE ultimately failed to address the root causes of the growing federal budget.

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• Elon Musk’s DOGE Gutted Federal Agencies, Cancelled Major Programs — But Federal Spending Still Went UP: Report