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Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting effort has reportedly identified and cut more than $1 billion in federal spending, as it eyes ways to meet a stated goal of cutting as much as $2 trillion from the annual budget.
More than half of the cuts so far are related to federal spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, while the group has also put $30 million in spending on digital modernization and $4 million on federal leases on the chopping block, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
DOGE, which has attracted criticism for its opaque staffing, audacious attempts to claim authority, and feverish pace of cuts across the government, is now eyeing even deeper reforms of federal spending.
The group has identified what it says is another $4 billion in savings in administrative changes to National Institutes of Health grants, while Trump said Friday the DOGE team is moving onto scrutinizing the massive Department of Education and $842 billion defense budget.
“We have very smart people going in, so I’ve instructed him go into education, go into military, go into other things as we go along, and they’re finding massive amounts of fraud, abuse, waste, all of these things,” Trump said of Musk.
The spending initiative has also reportedly searched the payments system of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for fraud, a part of the bedrock multi-billion dollar health insurance safety net for millions of senior and low-income Americans.
However, the DOGE group’s slash-and-burn startup style has butted up against scores of lawsuits in federal courts, accusing Musk and his acolytes of trying to illegally access sensitive data, claw back funding that’s already been legally apportioned, and shutter government departments created by Congress.
On Saturday, in a lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general, a federal judge temporarily restricted political appointees and “special government employees” like Musk from accessing sensitive data and payment systems at the Treasury Department, arguing such access could risk “irreparable harm.”
The day before, in a lawsuit from a federal workers union, a Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s DOGE-led attempt to put over 2,000 employees of the U.S. Agency For International Development on leave.
Trump, for his part, has praised Musk’s work and pushed back against criticisms that the world’s richest man is using his position in the White House for personal benefits.
“He’s not gaining anything from this,” Trump said during a pre-taped Super Bowl interview. “In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. He’s so into it.”
“I ran on this,” he added. “And the people want me to find it.”
The Republican has also said DOGE will not cut Social Security.
“Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened,” Trump said this week.
