DOGE Slashes Billions in Federal Spending, Eyes $2 Trillion More
Rapid Advances in Cost-Cutting Measures
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has moved swiftly in its mission to cut government expenditures. Within just three weeks, the agency has uncovered and eliminated over $1 billion in federal spending, with an ambitious goal to reduce another $2 trillion.
Key cost-cutting measures implemented by DOGE include:
- Cutting over $1 billion from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across multiple federal agencies.
- Terminating $30 million worth of digital modernization contracts.
- Saving $4 million by closing underutilized government office spaces.
- Projecting $4 billion in annual savings by capping the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) research overhead allowances at 15%.
- Partnering with the Treasury Department to combat entitlement fraud, potentially recovering up to $50 billion per year.
The Creation of DOGE
DOGE was established through an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, assigning Musk the responsibility of identifying wasteful government spending and streamlining operations. “Elon is doing an incredible job. He’s uncovering fraud, corruption, and waste at an unbelievable level,” Trump stated in a recent interview.
The federal government is projected to spend approximately $7 trillion this fiscal year, with major allocations going toward Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and defense. DOGE’s directive is to scrutinize these expenditures and eliminate inefficiencies. “This is absurd and needs immediate attention,” Musk posted on social media, referencing the billions lost annually due to improper government payments.
Broadening Investigations in Healthcare and Defense
While the agency initially focused on administrative costs and DEI programs, Musk’s team is now shifting its attention toward high-expense federal programs, such as healthcare and military spending.
- DOGE has secured access to Medicare and Medicaid payment systems, where it aims to investigate fraud—estimated by the U.S. Government Accountability Office to have resulted in $100 billion in improper payments in 2023.
- Trump has directed DOGE to review the Department of Education and defense spending, anticipating that “we will find hundreds of billions in fraud and mismanagement.”
- In collaboration with Treasury officials, DOGE has introduced stricter anti-fraud measures, including requiring categorization codes for all government disbursements and tightening oversight of questionable transactions.
Political Response and Legal Hurdles
DOGE’s aggressive approach has sparked a mixed reaction. Fiscal conservatives and many Republicans applaud Musk’s efforts, while Democrats and government watchdogs raise concerns regarding legality and transparency.
- Legal Pushback: Several lawmakers have initiated lawsuits, contending that DOGE’s efforts to reclaim funds legally allocated by Congress may violate constitutional limits.
- Judicial Intervention: A federal judge recently restricted DOGE’s access to certain Treasury systems, citing privacy issues.
- Democratic Resistance: Thirty House Democrats attempted to enter the Department of Education to demand clarity on potential budget cuts but were turned away.
- Expert Criticism: Watchdogs argue that DOGE’s focus is selective, with Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight claiming that excessive military spending and contractor fraud deserve greater scrutiny.
DOGE has until July 4, 2026, to deliver its final spending recommendations to taxpayers. However, Musk’s team is working rapidly, making unilateral decisions without waiting for congressional authorization.
While supporters see DOGE as a long-overdue initiative to curb government waste, critics caution against its sweeping authority and potential legal transgressions. As Musk continues pushing his vision of fiscal efficiency, the debate over DOGE’s role in Washington is likely to escalate—along with the fate of trillions in taxpayer dollars.
Bottom line is you really do not know what they have cut, what they are going to cut, and the foggiest clue of their plan. They are opaque as to their goings on, and operating off-budget, off-radar without any sort of Congressional oversight whatsoever.
The closest thing you have to a plan is Trump’s campaign generalities that he changes all the time AND Project 2025 as a roadmap.
The good news is anything they are doing can be stopped by the people’s vote, in two years, and overturned, by vote, in four years. We can fix stupid. They are not passing any laws so far and seem inept and incompetent to do so. Matter of fact, they can’t even work without the bully pulpit acting outside the law and no way can they manage to work with anyone in Congress, even their own side.
You may hear stuff, but you have to know they lie often. And if you think you know stuff, you are being fooled and fooling yourself. There are no valid records to date. Don’t be a fool; demand to see exactly what is being done and how. Follow the money, including how they pay for the tax cuts and who profits from said cuts the most.
But this is fantasy. You only know what they say.
If we knew what they were going to cut, we could have cut it already. That is exactly the problem that no one bothers to dig down and call stupidity when they see it.
I was elated when I heard there would actually be a focus on the deficit, many have been predicting a crash when the deficit hit a certain level. But the other safety valve is inflation which is effectly a universal tax. Without Elon doing this work, a crash would be unavoidable – and may happen anyway.
And by the way, Musk isn’t actually doing anything. He has no authority except that assigned authority by Trump.
From the department of silly thoughts: “If we knew what they were going to cut, we could have cut it already. That is exactly the problem that no one bothers to dig down and call stupidity when they see it.”
OK, Joe, glad to see you have adopted Pelosi-speak…..”if we knew it, we done do it” combined with a trust-level a Catholic Priest would love to see from little boys…. How do you know anything he cut is based on “stupidity” when you really don’t even know what he cut, or why? And beyond “cut, cut, cut,” you have not a clue what the plan really is. One thing is certain: he will declare mission accomplished.
How do you believe, especially given Trump’s record, they are offering anything more than lip service to controlling the deficit? All I see is cost, cost, cost. What is the cost to let 60K people go with a generous payoff package? What is the cost, to taxpayers, to all these lawsuits that Team Mump will never pay but caused? What is the deployment cost to putting the current, and always growing, 3,600 troops on the border. It costs $25K a month to deploy not including travel, equipment, and support staff. In war, it is between $500K to $1M a year. That’s between $1-8B to $3.6B a year. On the plus side, all the tariffs that importers pay, and pass that inflationary cost on to consumers, these $$$ go into the General Fund to fake-pay for some of this crap, and the tax cuts that last time caused HUGE deficits when Trump’s estimate for GDP growth floundered like a live shrimp on a hot skillet. Personally, I like spending on infrastructure and climate change better than raising product prices to fill the tax coffers. ‘
“Without Elon doing this work, a crash would be unavoidable – and may happen anyway.” May be but you really don’t know.
The witching hour was thought to be 100% debt/gdp ratio. We pierced that in 2013; Trump never went below 100 and handed off a ramp that hit 130% a few months into Biden’s term. Biden got it down to 115% and you just watch where Don takes it.
Since Tesla and X are prime examples of where Team Mump is taking our economy, good luck. Musk told X employees that their financial situation is dire. Tesla is a valuation roller coaster which started a run up in 2020, peaking in 2024, go figure, and has tanked 20% so far this year. Given his second highest volume country after the US is China where he’s tanking, Given his EU sales are a third of total and tanking, I am pretty sure it’s a tough Tesla year. And you cannot run a country like a company; when they stop investing in the country, you can’t claim bankruptcy and have the country cover the country like a company. Although Team Mump may try :>(
Trust me: when I say Musk, Trump is implied.
I think you need to provide this metric: whenever you applaud Team Mump, imagine what you would say if liberals wore those shoes. I mean you are free-market capitalists that applaud tariffs like a liberal; how crazy is that.
If the truth is leaked and answered by who is profiting, there would be interpretation that this is
being done on purpose as a revenge or retribution deal.
The truth is people are profiting from our tax dollars WITHOUT doing any work.
The government never worries about our deficit as they know this is just part of the scare tactic
that keeps them in power.
Remove the deficit and you remove their scare tactics.
This is the same as carrying a $300 Dollar credit card debt as you make 50K a year
and then telling the American people how are we ever going to pay this!
Amen
You can understand that? What secret language do you-all speak?
This same thing should happen with every city, county, and state government in the land. Taxpayer money in the hands of politicians has made many people rich.
Robert: can you name any? One?
I am sure it happens. As sure as I that Musk can’t name the $30M gubermint women he outed. Or the dozen’s of 150-year old fake SSecurity recipients. But it sounds like you have a list and the list is long with “many people rich.”
Or were you just spewing?
Good one Frank. But you’re still stupid Good one??? Not!!!