DOGE's "wall of receipts" riddled with inaccuracies, GAO says
Summary
A government watchdog found that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) overstated its claimed savings by billions of dollars. Many of the savings listed were inaccurate, unsupported, or involved actions already underway before DOGE existed, and the group lacked transparency about its methods.Key Facts
- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed DOGE’s savings claims from January 2025 to July 2026.
- DOGE claimed $110 billion in savings, but many of these were incorrect or not supported by evidence.
- For example, 108 out of 264 leases DOGE said it canceled were already set to end before DOGE began.
- DOGE claimed $1.7 billion saved from stopping a Pentagon IT contract but never actually ended or reduced the contract.
- DOGE was created shortly after President Trump took office in January 2025, with Elon Musk leading it initially.
- The GAO criticized DOGE for poor transparency and failure to explain how it calculated savings.
- DOGE stopped reporting on some canceled contracts for legal reasons and ended operations in July 2026.
- GAO recommended that savings data include clearer information about how numbers are calculated and any limitations.
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