DOGE
How much money is DOGE saving taxpayers?
UPDATE (Feb 26, 2025): More DOGE false claims exposed.
DOGE Quietly Deletes the 5 Biggest Spending Cuts It Celebrated Last Week
- An $8 billion cut at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The actual contract in question was worth $8 million.
- Three $655 million cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development. This was actually a single cut that was erroneously counted three times, as first reported by CBS News. Now, the site lists a much smaller savings for these three cancellations: $18 million in total.
- A $232 million cut at the Social Security Administration. Instead, as reported by The Intercept, it had canceled only a tiny piece of it: a $560,000 project to let users mark their gender as “X.” The DOGE site now shows that small cut instead.
- The largest savings on the latest version of its list is a $1.9 billion cut at the Treasury Department. But The Times reported last week that this contract was canceled last fall, when Joseph R. Biden Jr. was president — and when DOGE did not yet exist.
As of Feb 22, 2025, the DOGE website claims that it saved $55 Billion dollars – $8.5 billion in alleged contract savings and another $46.5 billion with no specifically documented source. It has been caught erroneously listing savings that were not supported by facts or were outright incorrect.
- Musk claimed that Social Security being paid to people 150 years old.
This was proven false and attributed to a DOGE misunderstanding of data.
- Musk/Trump claimed State Dept pulls millions in funding for ‘condoms in Gaza,’
This was proven false which Musk has admitted.
- DOGE claims to have uncovered $4.7 Trillion in untraceable payments.
Again false and the result of misreading data.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/19/nx-s1-5302705/doge-overstates-savings-federal-contracts
Which Federal Agencies/Databases does DOGE have access to?
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Social Security Administration
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)
Commerce Department
Defense Department
Education Department
Energy Department
Environmental Protection Agency
FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
GSA (General Services Administration)
Health and Human Services
Labor Department
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
OPM (Office of Personnel Management)
Treasury Department
Veterans Affairs
SOURCE: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/doge-elon-musk-what-federal-agencies-access-lawsuits.html
What is D.O.G.E.?
Elon Musk, who Trump has tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, is leading the effort to seize access to the federal payment system, dismantle an aid agency and offer millions of federal workers an ultimatum – quit or face being fired.
“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, referring to a top-secret World War Two program to develop nuclear weapons. “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time.”
SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o
A recent post on Quora discussing this issue https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Democrats-in-Congress-throwing-a-fit-because-DOGE-is-saving-taxpayers-billions-of-dollars-Is-it-because-these-programs-are-merely-money-laundering-programs-for-politicians
DOGE mission statement (Published in WSJ) https://www.benton.org/headlines/doge-plan-reform-government
Who is running DOGE?
DOGE was initially founded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Vivek has since left DOGE. It is not clear who actually works for DOGE.
The White house claims that Musk is not heading up DOGE for legal reasons in spite of Musk’s many public appearances speaking for DOGE.
As of early February 2025 DOGE has 10 employees according to Business Insider.
The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis and former US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios were cited as interviewing candidates.
Davis was involved in Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022 and played a key role in Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC.
Kratsios, served as Trump’s top technology advisor during his first administration. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kratsios was tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s chief of staff and a principal at Thiel Capital.
Trump said that Republican lawyer William Joseph McGinley will serve as the commission’s counsel. McGinley, a former partner at the law firm Jones Day, served as Trump’s White House cabinet secretary from 2017 to 2019.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has reportedly been consulting Silicon Valley leaders, such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Uber cofounder turned food tech entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, about his plans for the commission.
Wired has identified several other DOGE contributors. Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure. The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.
