Elon Musk has dramatically lowered his expectations for DOGE’s savings goal, projecting $150 billion in cuts from the federal budget over the fiscal year 2025-2026. This is far short of his earlier trillion-dollar claims. Critics are questioning the accuracy of DOGE’s savings numbers, citing inflated figures, retracted claims, and controversies surrounding various cuts.
According to Musk, the team expects to achieve $150 billion in savings through reductions in waste and fraud. He claimed that these cuts will result in better services for American citizens. However, some experts have raised concerns about the transparency of DOGE’s efforts, pointing out that only a third of their reported cuts were publicly disclosed.
DOGE’s website has been plagued with errors, making it difficult to verify the accuracy of their top-line figure of $150 billion. The team has deleted several contracts from their records after reports questioned some of their claims. For instance, they initially reported a $1.9 billion savings from cancelling a Treasury Department contract but later revised the amount down to $8 million due to an apparent clerical error.
Musk’s role at the White House is set to end in May, and he has stated that he intends to leave when his time expires. Despite this, some have questioned whether Musk’s claims about DOGE’s efforts are genuine or just a publicity stunt.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/04/11/elon-musk-drastically-drops-doge-savings-goal-2-trillion-150-billion-year