NYT: Musk's department exaggerates data on US budget savings

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), supervised by Elon Musk, overestimates the scale of alleged budget savings. The information was published by The New York Times (NYT) citing sources and its own calculations.

Initially, Musk stated his intention to achieve a one trillion dollar reduction in federal spending by fiscal 2026. However, that goal was later revised—the stated amount was reduced to 150 billion.

The DOGE documentation lists items that will not actually make it into next year's budget. The estimates also include canceled overpriced contracts and items that have no impact on future spending. The NYT reckons the difference between the calculations could be as much as several billion dollars.

After Donald Trump came to power, DOGE began a full-scale cost analysis. At Musk's initiative, the work of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was temporarily suspended as part of the planned reorganization, as NYT points out.