DOGE Says It Has Helped Save Nearly $200 Billion

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) says nearly $200 billion has been saved since it was established under the Trump administration earlier this year.

According to DOGE’s website, its activities have led to an estimated $199 billion in savings so far, roughly $1,232 per person, according to an update issued on Saturday and reviewed by The Epoch Times.

DOGE said 12,426 federal contracts have been terminated, worth about $53 billion, while 15,488 grants totaling $44 billion have been canceled so far.

About $140 million was saved through 384 federal lease terminations, according to the DOGE website.

DOGE wrote in a July 26 X post that agencies terminated 141 “wasteful contracts” that have an estimated “ceiling value” of $5.1 billion, saving $498 million.

That included a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contract for a health security advisory in Senegal and a $1.4 million Department of Health and Human Services contract for professional services in Rwanda, DOGE said.

In late May, tech billionaire Elon Musk said he was leaving the federal government, citing the end of his 130-day mandate as a special government employee under the Trump administration.

Musk, who had helped DOGE with efforts to eliminate fraud and waste within the federal government, later criticized President Donald Trump and other Republicans who backed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Trump and Musk then became entangled in a public feud over the bill before the Tesla chief executive said he would create his own political party to challenge the Democratic–Republican political paradigm.

Trump referred to Musk in a social media post last week, saying he wants businesses in the United States to thrive.

“Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!” Trump said in a Truth Social post on July 24.

“I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that’s good for all of us. We are setting records every day, and I want to keep it that way!”

Responding to Trump, Musk on July 24 wrote that he disagrees with Trump’s statement on subsidies.

“The ’subsidies’ he’s talking about simply do not exist,” Musk said on X. “SpaceX won the NASA contracts by doing a better job for less money. Moving those contracts to other aerospace companies would leave astronauts stranded and taxpayers on the hook for twice as much!”

Previously, Trump signaled in a Truth Social post that he would have DOGE evaluate federal subsidies that Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, have received.

“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?” Trump told reporters earlier this month amid their spat.

“He gets a lot of subsidies. Elon’s very upset that the EV mandate is going to be terminated.”

In June, Musk said that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill” and a “disgusting abomination.”

The measure eventually passed in the House and Senate before Trump signed it into law earlier in July.