President Donald Trump has claimed that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have found billions of dollars in savings, but even DOGE’s own social media accounts state otherwise.
“We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars that we’ve already found. … But you’re talking about maybe 500 billion. It’s crazy the numbers you’re talking about,” Trump said when speaking to reporters on February 11, according to The Washington Post.
Speaking alongside Musk, Trump claimed that DOGE has found billions in “waste, fraud and abuse.”
“When you get down to it, it’s going to be probably close to a trillion dollars. It could be close to a trillion dollars that we’re going to find,” said Trump.
But the president’s figures come nowhere near the numbers shared by the DOGE account on X, the social media site owned by Musk, The Post noted.
The numbers posted, with little to no documentation, add up to about $6 billion a year, according to The Post. However, $4 billion comes from a suggested cap on National Institutes of Health research overhead payments to universities, medical centers and others who have received grants. For the time being, that cap has been blocked by a judge.
DOGE has claimed $2 billion in annual savings when it comes to specific line items. Most of those savings seem to come from shutting down diversity or climate change initiatives.
The White House did not dispute the accounting sent by The Post. However, in a statement, the administration told the paper that the government could save as much as $747 billion each year.
This is according to two reports from the Government Accountability Office. One of the reports, published last year, states that the “federal government loses an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion” each year to fraud. The second report, also from last year, states that there was an estimated $236 billion in improper payments in the 2023 fiscal year.
The reports are estimates and include caveats for the figures posted. The fraud report was based on information from agency inspectors general, whom Trump has removed from their posts. The report was also based on fraud in existing cases that had already been identified. Following that, an estimate of potential fraud was created. The improper payments report was based on agency estimates of overpayments.
Trump has claimed that these estimates are solid numbers.
On January 21, DOGE noted that savings from eliminating the penny would amount to $179 million a year. Trump subsequently ordered the U.S. Mint to stop making the coin. The Mint said in its annual report that making the penny lost it $85.3 million in fiscal year 2024.
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” DOGE wrote on X. “The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40 percent of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.”
On January 29, DOGE claimed that $45 million had been saved from canceling “DEI scholarships” in Myanmar.
That same day, the account suggested that $1 billion was saved from canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion contracts.
“In the past six days, the number of lease terminations of underutilized buildings has increased from 3 to 22, with savings increased from $1.6M to $44.6M,” the DOGE account stated on February 2.
The following day, they added that “This morning, 20 consulting contracts, mostly focused on ‘strategic communication’ and ‘executive coaching,’ were terminated for immediate savings of $26mm.”
Also on February 3, DOGE added that “All in today, 36 contracts were terminated for a total savings of ~$165mm across 6 agencies, including a DHS contract for ‘people and culture survey and climate support services.’”
“The Social Security Administration has terminated its contract for the “Gender X initiative marker” and removed all references to gender ideology from public facing applications,” DOGE stated on February 5. “This saves > $1M and is in accordance with the President’s Executive Order.”
DOGE also took aim at former Chief Medical Adviser to the president Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“In the past 48 hours, HHS canceled 62 contract[s] worth $182 million. These contracts were entirely for administrative expenses — none touched any health care programs. This included terminating a $168,000 contract for an Anthony Fauci exhibit at NIH Museum,” DOGE stated on X on February 7.
