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Elon Musk said the DOGE office would cut nearly $150 billion in spending for the 2026 fiscal year.
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Last month, Musk said the office would cut nearly $1 trillion.
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Musk has a history of making lofty promises that don’t translate into reality.
Elon Musk said on Thursday that the White House DOGE office would cut close to $150 billion in government spending for the 2026 fiscal year, lowering the ambitious targets he had for President Donald Trump‘s signature effort to reorganize the federal government.
“Thanks to your fantastic leadership, the amazing Cabinet, the very talented DOGE team, I’m excited to announce that we anticipate savings in FY26 from reduction of waste and fraud by $150 billion,” Musk said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Musk said the savings “will actually result in better services for the American people.” Business Insider previously reported that because of DOGE-office-spurred cuts, fewer people were answering the phones in Social Security offices at a time of record call volumes.
During a Fox News interview last month, Musk said the DOGE office would be very close to cutting $1 trillion in spending before his time in the government is up.
“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that timeframe,” Musk told the Fox News anchor Bret Baier during a panel interview with top members of the DOGE team.
Musk, the de facto leader of the White House DOGE office, is nearing the end of his 130 period in the federal government. As a special government employee, the Tesla CEO’s time is set to be up as soon as late May. The service requirement does not have real teeth, but the White House has said Musk intends to leave when his time runs out.
Trump expressed hope in retaining other DOGE team members, many of whom, like Musk, are special government employees.
“Your people are fantastic. In fact, hopefully, they will stay around for the long haul,” the president said.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy between Musk’s current and previous statements.
Musk has a history of making sweeping promises that don’t always translate into reality.
In 2016, Musk promised that it would be possible within two years to summon a Tesla remotely from across the country — a feat that remains nowhere near possible.
During initial conversations about the DOGE office, Musk mused about cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.
The office has begun to fade from headlines amid Trump’s tariffs and congressional action on the president’s sweeping immigration, energy, and tax cut bill.
The post Elon Musk lowers DOGE’s estimated savings — again appeared first on Yahoo Finance.
