Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) has been making headlines for its ambitious target of cutting U.S. government spending, alleging savings of over $10 billion a week since the Trump administration. In a recent BBC interview, Trump reported that these efforts have potentially saved close to $200 billion thus far. While the Doge website boasts an impressive figure of $160 billion in claimed savings, a detailed analysis conducted by BBC Verify raises serious questions regarding these assertions.
Formed to eliminate unnecessary government expenditures, Doge focuses on canceling contracts, grants, and leases authorized in previous administrations while also targeting government fraud and workforce reductions. However, the BBC’s inquiry has revealed that many of these claimed savings lack verifiable evidence. A concerning pattern arose when extracting data from Doge’s website, with less than 40% of the reported savings supported by documented proof.
Doge's ambitious projections began in October when Musk aimed to save at least $2 trillion from the federal budget. This goal was later halved, with Musk now promising to cut $150 billion due to a decrease in waste and fraud by the end of the fiscal year 2026. While the last confirmed federal budget was approximately $6.75 trillion, the Doge site previously reported savings as high as $160 billion, which merits deeper examination.
The BBC Verify team scrutinized the four largest savings items highlighted on the Doge website. Despite being attributed a total of $8.3 billion, the evidence suggested substantial overestimations. Most savings reported linked to documents within the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), a database documenting government contracts. Experts noted that the maximum values cited should be treated with caution since they reflect potential expenditures rather than actual cash outlays, underscoring discrepancies in the claimed savings.
Among the most notable claims, Doge touted a $2.9 billion saving from terminating a Texas facility contract primarily intended for unaccompanied migrant children. However, insights from knowledgeable sources asserted that the realistic savings were closer to $153 million, much lower than originally asserted by Doge, and based on monthly operational costs rather than speculative estimates.
Doge's supposed savings from other significant contracts also raised eyebrows. A purported $1.9 billion saving from a contract involving the IRS with Centennial Technologies turned out to be based on outdated reporting, with experts affirming the contract's actual status was unclear, as multiple government departments struggle with record-keeping consistency. Furthermore, another claimed saving of $1.76 billion from terminating a contract connected to the Department of Defense lacked clarity, and Gavi, a beneficiary of a $880 million grant, stated that they had yet to receive official termination notice for their funding from USAID, casting further doubt on Doge's claims of saving $1.75 billion from this grant.
As the scrutiny grows around Doge's ambitious savings claims, additional inquiries are underway, and despite allegedly significant cuts, the agency faces challenges in providing concrete validation of its assertions. While Elon Musk has indicated plans to reduce his involvement with Doge to focus on other ventures, the overall impact of this initiative remains uncertain, and the need for transparency has never been more pronounced.
