Donald Trump and Elon Musk claim they’re saving billions through the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass purge of federal bureaucracy, but government spending has actually gone up since Inauguration Day.
According to an analysis published Wednesday by Reuters, the Trump administration spent $710 billion between January 21 and February 20, nearly a billion more than Joe Biden spent in a similar time period last year.
The majority of that spending has gone to health and retirement programs, as well as interest payments, apparently more important investments than Medicare, global health, and air travel safety, all of which have faced or will face drastic cuts.
Through the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk has fired over 20,000 federal workers and gutted a number of federal agencies, most notably the U.S. Agency for International Development, which spent $42 billion in 2023. The cuts are part of Musk’s goal to reduce the federal deficit by $1 trillion by 2026, a likely impossible feat, especially given the administration’s newly revealed spending habits.
Unsurprisingly, many of DOGE’s claims have been exaggerated or fraudulent. The department claimed to have cut an $8 billion ICE contract—the real amount was $8 million, The New York Times reported. An analysis from The Washington Post found that hundreds of contracts DOGE claimed to cancel were actually already finished, resulting in absolutely zero savings.
DOGE is now facing a number of legal challenges and intense backlash from the GOP.
The post Turns Out, Trump and DOGE Haven’t Actually Saved Any Money appeared first on New Republic.
