Elon Musk promised to save $2 trillion, but it turned out differently
The DOGE program, led by Musk, resulted in losses of $21.7 billion in the first half of 2025.
About $14.8 billion was spent on paying non-working officials, over $6 billion on payments to laid-off employees on leave, $263 million lost from freezing government loans. The rest went to bureaucracy, relocations, and inefficient projects.
Senator Blumenthal called DOGE a "failure" and urged an audit in 27 federal agencies.