The Department of Government Efficiency reports $160 billion in savings amid legal challenges and other opposition.
The second Trump administration has broken new ground in many areas. One big area is its Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE.
Although DOGE cannot make cuts directly, it has led an effort across agencies to trim spending. Its stated focus has been to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as to modernize government technology.
Republicans have celebrated the time-limited initiative, which sunsets on July 4, 2026. So have some observers in Washington.
Democrats in Congress have questioned the scope of DOGE-inspired cuts and the organization’s access to sensitive data. DOGE has faced obstacles from the judiciary, too.
DOGE’s website reports to have identified $160 billion in savings so far. Here are key things to know about DOGE after its first 100 days.
DOGE’s Origins, Structure
Tesla CEO Musk was a top financial supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy. In August 2024, he suggested to Trump that he could lead a government efficiency commission. Trump pitched the idea publicly in early September, months before Election Day.
Trump formally announced the plan a week after the Nov. 4 election, tapping Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the effort. On Jan. 20, a DOGE spokesperson confirmed Ramaswamy would not be involved.
The president’s Jan. 20 executive order establishing DOGE renamed the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service and placed it within the Executive Office of the President.
Amy Gleason, who served in the U.S. Digital Service during Trump’s first term, is the acting administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service.
The president’s Jan. 20 order instructed agency heads to create DOGE teams with at least four members, including an engineer, a team lead, and an attorney.
A February executive order directed agency heads to work with DOGE in identifying regulations seen as unconstitutional, costly, or otherwise questionable. Another order initiated similar coordination on contracting, grants, travel, credit cards, real property, and leases as part of a DOGE cost-efficiency initiative.
DOGE Lawsuits
DOGE has faced a flurry of lawsuits. Legal challenges include those from government labor unions, environmental groups, fired U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees, and the American Library Association.
In late March, an appeals court, the Fourth Circuit, permitted DOGE to continue its work at USAID, lifting an order issued by a lower court.
In early April, the same court reestablished DOGE’s access to the Office of Personnel Management, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Education, overruling a similar block.
In April, a Maryland judge extended a block on DOGE’s access to Social Security Administration data.
DOGE Cuts
Musk has walked back earlier, more optimistic projections of DOGE’s impact, a key selling point of the initiative as the United States struggles with persistent deficits and $36 trillion in debt.
DOGE claims $160 billion in savings so far. It credits them to asset sales, lease renegotiations, regulatory changes, workforce reductions, and the elimination of fraud and improper payments, among other steps.
The federal workforce has shed more than 140,000 positions so far under Trump, thanks in large part to DOGE. Most are deferred resignations, which let federal employees leave their jobs voluntarily.
Here’s a rundown of some of DOGE’s big digs into the budget. Some reported DOGE cuts have been sourced from DOGE’s website. The Epoch Times has not independently verified them.
Health and Human Services
The Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., tops DOGE’s agency efficiency leaderboard.
An April fact sheet from the department lays out planned cuts in line with Trump’s DOGE agenda. They include a reduction of the workforce by 20,000 employees, 3,500 of whom were at the Food and Drug Administration. The fact sheet also outlines decreases in the number of divisions and regional offices.
“No additional cuts are currently planned, but the Department will continue to look for further ways to streamline its operations and agencies,” it states.
Amid DOGE-inspired cuts at the department, Rich said the agency administering Medicare and Medicaid requires more staff to pinpoint fraud, beyond what the department’s inspector general would likely do by herself.
“CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] is one of the few agencies within the federal government that actually doesn’t quite have enough administration when it comes to auditing what types of payments come out,” Rich said.
DOGE’s webpage lists various HHS cuts, including $46 million in savings from a Booz Allen Hamilton contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for first responder training.
Department of Education
In March, Trump issued an executive order to shutter the Department of Education. Congress may need to act for Trump to fully deliver on that ambition, but DOGE has helped to strip it down.
DOGE-inspired cuts include $900 million to the Institute of Education Sciences, a statistical branch of the department. DOGE’s reported savings also include $69 million from General Dynamics related to information technology services.
Department of Defense
Although the Pentagon’s budget is expected to increase, it, too, has been in DOGE’s crosshairs.
In early March, the department identified $80 million in savings following an examination of its spending by DOGE. The Pentagon also aims to trim 5 to 8 percent of its civilian workforce.
DOGE reports $566 million in savings from a Defense Advanced Research Projects contract with SecuriGence for “multi-network support services.”
USAID
USAID has been massively scaled down after scrutiny by DOGE. The Trump administration hopes to shut it down entirely but faces legal hurdles to achieve that goal. The legal drama has left a mark on DOGE’s reporting. For entry after entry, its website states that USAID-related savings are “unavailable for legal reasons.”
In early March, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that the Trump administration must follow through with the payment of $2 billion in foreign aid.
Later that month, USAID Acting Administrator Marco Rubio, also the secretary of state, announced that 83 percent of USAID’s programs were being cut.
DOGE, Congress
Congress has done little so far to reinforce DOGE’s executive branch efforts, although lawmakers in the Senate and House, mostly Republicans, have created their own DOGE caucuses in support of the department.
A related subcommittee, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), has held hearings to scrutinize spending on USAID and in other areas.
In early April, the White House said it would send Congress a rescission package to codify DOGE’s efforts. Trump reportedly intends to send lawmakers a $9.3 billion package early this week.
“The DOGE cuts—why aren’t we voting on those every week?” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked on April 10 after voting against a key reconciliation blueprint.
Democrats in Congress have protested DOGE and sought to provide oversight. They have also questioned the accuracy of some of its reported findings and sought answers on a whistleblower report alleging sensitive data exposure. Yet, with Republicans in control of Congress, the party out of power has limited leverage.
Musk, DOGE
Musk’s work for Trump has sparked backlash, ranging from protests outside Tesla dealerships to attacks on the company’s vehicles, including a firebombing that has resulted in an arrest. Hennepin County’s district attorney declined to charge a Minnesota state employee after he allegedly keyed six Teslas.
Musk has served as a special government employee while remaining as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. On April 22, with Tesla’s profits and revenue falling, Musk said he will spend less time on DOGE beginning in May.
His term as a special government employee ends after 130 days. Trump said on April 23 that he would like to retain Musk “for a long time.”
DOGE, Deficit, Debt
In February, Ryan Bourne of the Cato Institute predicted DOGE’s mandate and Congressional Republicans’ spending commitments would leave it hard-pressed to turn the tide on the debt and deficits.
“With commitments to increase defense and border security spending and the likelihood of further tax cuts, DOGE’s efforts will not counteract the extra borrowing sufficiently to actually cut red ink,” Bourne told The Epoch Times.
“If we really want to make a dent in spending, even a bigger deal than ironing out Social Security is going to be figuring out CMS, because CMS does cost more money overall than Social Security,” Rich said.
Republican leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees have agreed to a $150 boost to defense spending as part of reconciliation budget negotiations, pushing overall defense spending above $1 trillion.
The final reconciliation budget will likely include an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which Republicans assume will cost nothing. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough may soon rule on the use of a current policy baseline.
Data from DOGE and the Treasury Department suggest that the organization’s cuts have been outpaced by interest on existing federal debt.
Ahead of Election Day, Musk initially predicted DOGE could yield $2 trillion in savings. He has since tempered those expectations. In March, he said it could achieve $1 trillion in savings and, in April, he said it could save $150 billion in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
Whatever its ultimate impact, DOGE is slated to march on the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.