Doge overstated claims to have saved Americans $110bn, watchdog finds
A review of the body formerly charged with reducing government spending has found several issues with its calculations.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that Doge, a body responsible for reducing US government spending, overstated its claims of saving $110bn for Americans. The watchdog's report revealed several issues that limit the transparency and reliability of Doge's reported savings, including insufficient information to verify the methods used to calculate 96% of the reported savings.
The GAO also highlighted that 108 of the 264 leases identified for termination by Doge were already ending before the body was established, accounting for about $15.3m of the total $53.5m in claimed savings. Additionally, the report found that Doge made claims about savings that were not achieved, such as $1.7bn for ending a defence department contract for IT services, which was never terminated.
Doge, which launched under Elon Musk's leadership at the start of President Trump's second term, was not an official government department and closed last month. The watchdog's audit, conducted at the request of Democratic Senators Gary Peters and Richard Blumenthal, covered savings data reported from 20 January 2025 through 7 July 2026.
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