The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has vastly exaggerated how much money it has saved taxpayers through its aggressive handling of federal contracts and has inflated the figure by billions of dollars, according to an in-depth analysis.
DOGE, the department previously headed by Elon Musk, has claimed it saved $52.8 billion since July by canceling waves of federal contracts it deemed wasteful or unnecessary.
However, Politico’s analysis of DOGE’s so-called “Wall of Receipts,” a database on the department’s website, found that of the $32.7 billion worth of contracts it was able to examine, the actual savings amounted to just $1.4 billion, based on a review of more than 10,000 canceled contracts.
Even more damning, this $1.4 billion figure cannot be used to reduce the deficit, as DOGE has often claimed, because it must be returned to agencies, which are mandated by Congress to spend the money appropriated to them.
Politico suggested DOGE’s figures are way off due to “faulty math,” including counting the maximum amount that could possibly be spent on a contract as a saving if it is canceled, even if the government would never have come close to spending that amount.
“That’s the equivalent of basically taking out a credit card with a $20,000 credit limit, canceling it and then saying, ‘I’ve just saved $20,000,’” Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School, told Politico.
“Anything that’s been said publicly about [DOGE’s] savings is meaningless.”
One example from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” is the claim it saved $2.9 billion by canceling a contract for a shelter in Pecos, Texas, used to house undocumented migrant children. But in February, DOGE said canceling the contract for the now-empty center would save $215 million annually.
DOGE arrived at the $2.9 billion figure by taking the maximum possible cost to run the center—$3.3 billion—subtracting $428 million already awarded or obligated, and calling the difference a saving.
But the $3.3 billion represented the cost of operating the facility at full capacity, amounting to around 3,000 children, for 365 days a year for five years.
The White House denied DOGE is misleading the public, insisting the department has produced “historic savings for the American people.”
“The DOGE Wall of Receipts provides the latest and most accurate information following a thorough assessment, which takes time. Updates to the DOGE savings page will continue to be made promptly, and departments and agencies will keep highlighting the massive savings DOGE is achieving,” White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told the Daily Beast. “DOGE works directly with agencies to calculate and confirm all savings associated with contracts. Savings actions can be attributed to terminations, ending option periods, descoping and ceiling reductions. All numbers are rigorously scrubbed with agency procurement officials and updated in real time based on current information.”
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