Elon Musk’s DOGE Claims $115 Billion in Federal Savings, but Experts Question Accuracy and Approach
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by Elon Musk, has updated its ambitious claims of slashing federal spending. On Wednesday, DOGE announced it had saved an estimated $115 billion, a $10 billion increase from the previous week’s figure. According to the team’s official website, this translates to roughly $714 per taxpayer. The savings, they assert, stem from a mix of asset sales, contract and lease cancellations, fraud elimination, grant terminations, interest savings, regulatory cuts, and workforce reductions. However, skepticism abounds as experts and analysts point to inconsistencies, inflated figures, and a lack of transparency in DOGE’s reporting.
DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” on its website highlights specific canceled contracts, grants, and real estate deals, but the team admits these examples account for only about 30% of the total claimed savings. This leaves the bulk of the $115 billion figure unverified. Even the showcased savings have drawn criticism for being unreliable. Harry Kraemer, a leadership professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and former CEO of Baxter International, told Fortune that DOGE’s numbers may be inflated by as much as 80%. “Where they’ve claimed savings of up to a billion dollars, some items are actually worth just a few hundred thousand or a couple million,” Kraemer said, estimating the true savings to be closer to 10-20% of the reported total.
Inflated Figures and Clerical Errors
DOGE’s track record has been marred by questionable accounting. For instance, the team previously revised a reported $8 billion contract cancellation down to $8 million after the vendor flagged the original figure as a likely typo. An analysis by Fortune of 5,356 terminated contracts, which DOGE claims saved $20 billion, revealed a total of just $17.97 billion—over $2 billion short. Similarly, Wednesday’s pre-update figures showed $15 billion in savings from 4,083 canceled contracts, but Fortune calculated only $10.23 billion. Grant terminations totaling 7,488 were reported as saving $17 billion, yet the actual sum appears closer to $16.62 billion, and lease cancellations worth $489 million were rounded up to $500 million.
Technical glitches have compounded the issue. On Wednesday morning, the “Wall of Receipts” displayed at least 14 “$NaN” errors—indicating undefined numeric values—though these were corrected by Thursday. DOGE acknowledges that its totals are approximations, but critics argue the consistent overstatements erode its credibility, especially given its pledge of “maximum transparency.”
Disputed Savings and Backtracking
Some of DOGE’s boldest claims have unraveled under scrutiny. A $1.9 billion savings from canceling a Treasury Department contract with Centennial Technologies was re-added to the list after being removed when the company clarified the cancellation occurred under the Biden administration, not DOGE’s watch. The New York Times also found that at least five of the 20 largest savings claims were exaggerated, based on federal data and interviews with affected nonprofits. Earlier this month, DOGE quietly dropped over 1,000 contract cancellations from its receipts, shaving $4 billion off its reported savings.
The White House has cited security concerns for withholding identifying details about some cuts, further clouding efforts to verify DOGE’s assertions.
A Haphazard Strategy
Experts have slammed DOGE’s approach as chaotic and lacking rigor. Kraemer criticized the absence of a coherent plan, likening the cuts to “complete bedlam” rather than the methodical process any seasoned executive would employ. “Every CEO would analyze where to cut, how to do it, and what the process should be,” he said. Yet DOGE appears to be slashing indiscriminately, ignoring the government’s major spending drivers like Social Security and Medicare, which account for much of the $2.4 trillion spent this fiscal year, according to NPR.
Jessica Riedl of the Manhattan Institute told NPR that DOGE’s focus on waste, fraud, and abuse oversimplifies the budget deficit challenge. “This exaggeration makes it harder to tackle the real, tough decisions needed to fix the deficit,” she said.
Musk’s Role Under Fire
Elon Musk’s unofficial leadership of DOGE has raised eyebrows. While he’s the public face of the initiative, he holds no formal government position, a setup constitutional law professor Michael Herz of Cardozo School of Law calls paradoxical: “Musk is simultaneously in control of and has nothing to do with DOGE.” Critics argue his lack of government experience renders him ill-equipped for the task. “What training does he have to figure out what to cut? He has no knowledge about it at all,” Kraemer said.
Herz described Musk as an “undisciplined and reckless leader” surrounded by similarly inexperienced followers, predicting legal challenges to DOGE’s actions. “The President lacks the authority to impound funds Congress has appropriated,” Herz explained, suggesting DOGE’s refusal to spend allocated money could violate constitutional obligations.
Economic Ripple Effects
Kraemer partly attributes the current market volatility under the Trump administration to DOGE’s erratic approach. “The level of uncertainty on every topic right now is incredible,” he said. With a goal of cutting $1 trillion by year’s end, DOGE’s lofty ambitions continue to fuel debate over its effectiveness and legitimacy.
DOGE did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment outside regular business hours. Meanwhile, the team’s critics remain vocal, and its savings claims face ongoing scrutiny.
Are you a government employee with insights on DOGE? Contact Beatrice Nolan at [email protected] or via Signal at beatricenolan.08 from a non-work device.