Archive · 7 Aug 2026
Auditors Say Musk's DOGE Overstated $110 Billion in Savings
A special team called DOGE was created to help the government stop wasting money.
Elon Musk led the team at first, and it put a list online called the Wall of Receipts.
The list showed money the team said it had saved — about $110 billion.
That is a huge amount of money, like paying for millions of houses.
Careful government checkers, called auditors, decided to look at the list to see if it was right.
The checkers found that some savings were not real or did not have proof.
One saving was counted for a computer contract that was never actually cancelled.
The team also would not explain how it figured out its savings numbers.
The checkers said having wrong numbers can make people stop trusting the government.
The report says the list had too many mistakes to be very useful.
Federal auditors found that many savings claimed by Elon Musk's DOGE were incorrect or lacked supporting evidence.
GAO found 108 of 264 leases DOGE listed for termination were already being terminated before DOGE was established.
DOGE reported $1.7 billion in savings on a Department of Defense IT services contract that was never terminated.
DOGE did not explain its methodology for calculating savings, and officials did not respond to GAO requests for information.
The report, requested by Democratic Senators Gary Peters and Richard Blumenthal, warned unreliable data can undermine public trust in government.
- Who
- Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Democratic Senators Gary Peters and Richard Blumenthal.
- What
- Federal auditors found that many of DOGE's claimed savings, including its reported $110 billion total, were incorrect or lacked supporting evidence.
- When
- DOGE began posting savings estimates on Feb. 17, 2025, reported $110 billion in savings as of July 7, and its operations sunset on July 4.
- Where
- Washington.
- Why
- Lawmakers asked the GAO to evaluate the accuracy of DOGE's savings estimates after DOGE began posting them.
Critics (Auditors and Democratic Senators)
DOGE and Its Supporters
Accuracy of reported savings
Critics (Auditors and Democratic Senators)
GAO found many savings were incorrect or lacked supporting evidence, such as $1.7 billion claimed on a contract that was never terminated and leases already in the process of termination before DOGE existed.
DOGE and Its Supporters
DOGE posted estimated savings of $110 billion across contracts, grants and leases on its Wall of Receipts, presenting them as the results of rooting out government waste.
Transparency of methodology
Critics (Auditors and Democratic Senators)
DOGE was not transparent about how it calculated savings and did not respond to GAO requests for information, limiting the Wall of Receipts' value for policymakers.
DOGE and Its Supporters
DOGE made its savings estimates publicly available on the Wall of Receipts starting Feb. 17, 2025, providing public visibility into its efficiency efforts.
- Reported savings
- $110 billion (as of July 7)
- Wall of Receipts launched
- Feb. 17, 2025
- DOGE operations sunset
- July 4 (by presidential executive order)
- Leases flagged for termination
- 264 total; 108 already in process of termination
- Disputed contract savings
- $1.7 billion (DoD IT services contract, never terminated)
- GAO report requested by
- Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
- DOGE leadership
- Initially led by Elon Musk; he stepped back after a few months