Elon Musk Is Stepping Back From DOGE. How Much Has It Saved the Government?

Elon Musk aimed take a big bite out of federal spending. His cost-cutting task force has managed only a nibble as the billionaire takes a step back from his White House role.

Musk on Tuesday said he would spend less time at the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” and more time at his job as Tesla CEO. That doesn’t mean the team’s work is done—Musk characterized the team as “in place and working in the government”—or that he won’t be involved, but some change is on the way.

“Starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” Musk said, adding that he would likely continue to spend a day or two a week on government work.

The news nevertheless is an opportunity to measure DOGE’s work so far. According to the DOGE website, Musk’s team has saved the government $160 billion by canceling contracts and leases and laying off employees, or 8% of Musk’s original goal of cutting the federal budget by $2 trillion and 16% of the $1 trillion goal Musk set when President Donald Trump took office.

Questions Remain About DOGE’s Calculations

Several investigations have disputed the actual savings so far. The task force, meanwhile, has repeatedly rolled back savings figures that proved erroneous.

A New York Times report found DOGE’s tally of savings was “inflated by errors and guesswork,” such as claiming to have canceled contracts that did not exist. Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noting the difficulty of estimating the actual savings DOGE has achieved, put the figure at $100 billion. The U.S. government ran a $1.8 trillion deficit last year.

Congress is preparing a budget that would cut taxes significantly and add $5.8 trillion to budget deficits over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget think tank.

DOGE has thus far managed “only a very small step toward putting U.S. fiscal policy back on a more sustainable path,” Oliver Allen, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon, wrote in a commentary. “Meaningful cuts to spending would almost certainly require a bipartisan political consensus around big cuts to entitlements and social programs, which is as far off as ever.”