Elon Musk’s DOGE erased $4 billion in alleged taxpayer savings without warning, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.
Recently, DOGE unexpectedly erased over $4 billion from its claimed taxpayer savings, raising concerns over transparency and the fate of the funds.
This development raises many questions about the organization’s handling of public funds and accountability.
Background on DOGE’s claims
Recently, the DOGE, under the leadership of Elon Musk, announced its intention to cut a substantial amount from government spending.
Musk has been vocal about reducing expenses by $2 trillion.
The organization claimed to have saved around $105 billion for taxpayers, which would translate to about $652 per taxpayer.
However, many are skeptical about these figures. Reports indicate that the savings claimed by DOGE may not be accurate.
The organization has faced criticism for its lack of transparency and the reliability of its data.
Musk’s DOGE wipes out $4,000,000,000 in supposed taxpayer savings without any announcement
On March 2, the DOGE allegedly deleted over 1,000 contracts it previously claimed to have canceled.
This action represented more than 40% of the contracts it had stated were canceled that week.
Following this deletion, it added back another 1,000 contracts, but these represented a much smaller amount of total savings.
This situation became even more embarrassing for DOGE when it was revealed that some of the “biggest” savings it had highlighted were riddled with mistakes.
For example, the organization mentioned $655 million in cuts in the U.S.
Agency for International Development, but this figure was later corrected to just $18 million.
DOGE reported incorrect savings and contracts.
Another significant error involved the Social Security Administration.
DOGE initially claimed a $232 million cut in contracts, but the real figure turned out to be only $560,000.
Such discrepancies have led experts to question the credibility of DOGE’s reports.
Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, noted that the information presented by DOGE seemed random and poorly coordinated.
“Overall, there’s a certain randomness to it. It seems like DOGE had certain agencies pull together some random lists of contracts that may or may not currently exist anyway,
and then, without checking the data very well, uploaded it onto a website and summed up the amounts. It doesn’t seem to be centrally coordinated.”
Musk’s DOGE shows a lack of transparency and accountability.
The DOGE has faced criticism for not including all of its cuts in its reported savings.
Many believe that the organization is taking credit for contracts that were canceled during the previous administration.
This lack of transparency makes it difficult to verify the claimed savings of $105 billion.
Although the DOGE has promised to upload all receipts clearly and transparently, many remain doubtful.
The organization’s claims appear to lack a solid foundation, leading to further skepticism about its operations.
DOGE responds poorly to mounting criticism.
As the criticism mounted, the DOGE and the White House did not respond to requests for comments from the New York Times.
However, there were indications that the wording of their reports had changed, perhaps to shift some of the blame.
In one of its major savings claims, the DOGE mentioned a $1.9 billion savings from canceling a contract with the Internal Revenue Service.
However, this contract was actually canceled under the Biden administration in November 2024, raising questions about the validity of this claim.