Less than half of DOGE-terminated contracts can be publicly tracked, only about a quarter of grants: watchdog

With Elon Musk's departure from the agency, there's statement roiling implicit however effectual the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE), has been successful its mission.

In a study released conscionable 2 days anterior to Musk stepping down, fiscal watchdog Open The Books published a study uncovering it is apt intolerable for the mean American payer to way the savings associated with the contracts and grants that were terminated by the DOGE team.

According to Open The Books' analysis, which mined each the information published connected DOGE's authoritative website, the mean American payer would apt lone beryllium capable to corroborate 42% of contracts and 27% of grants done an autarkic reappraisal of nationalist national spending databases.

"This doesn’t mean these targets aren’t real, it simply means it’s precise hard for taxpayers who privation to spot further savings to find impervious and grounds of savings," Open The Books points retired successful its analysis, shared successful a study the radical released Tuesday.

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Elon Musk (LEFT) has been a arguable fig successful the Trump administration, with galore of his critics arguing helium has wielded excessively overmuch powerfulness successful the Trump administration.  (Getty)

"Because taxpayers don’t person entree to real-time transparency and a real-time look astatine the Treasury Payment System, it’s inactive excessively hard for adjacent a highly motivated Joe Taxpayer to corroborate the savings claims DOGE is making," the analysis, released up of Elon Musk stepping down from moving the agency, continued. "It’s besides acold excessively casual for critics to sew [sic] uncertainty and confusion."

DOGE says on its website that the group's enactment up to this constituent has provided the American payer with $175 cardinal successful "estimated" savings from the elimination of contracts, grants and leases, arsenic good arsenic done renegotiations, fraud and improper outgo deletion and different mechanisms. 

However, DOGE's estimated savings person been contested by watchdog groups and fund experts. Such critics person posited that the inclusion of already canceled contracts, double-counting oregon misrepresentation of declaration values, and the unaccounted outgo load that could beryllium imposed connected the authorities erstwhile it has to re-hire folks down the line, oregon revamp its productivity, owed to DOGE cuts, person led to inflated savings estimates. 

Nate Malkus, a elder chap astatine the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, has accused DOGE of "overestimating contracts by a origin of two," according to CBS News.

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But White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital that DOGE has produced "historic savings" for the American people.

"DOGE is moving astatine grounds velocity to chopped waste, fraud, and abuse, producing historical savings for the American people," Fields said. "The DOGE Wall of Receipts provides the latest and astir close accusation pursuing a thorough assessment, which takes time. Updates to the DOGE savings leafage volition proceed to beryllium made promptly, and departments and agencies volition support highlighting the monolithic savings DOGE is achieving."

"DOGE’s occupation is to identify, not enact, savings targets. It’s up to Congress to bash the dense lifting," Open The Books said successful their investigation astir DOGE savings.  (Fox News Digital)

"DOGE and Elon Musk person done the state an unthinkable work by identifying savings targets," added Open The Books CEO John Hart. "Having worked connected the past large shortage committee with the precocious Senator Tom Coburn, we would person been elated to person had Musk successful our corner. Now it's up to Congress to not lone crook DOGE's recommendations into durable savings but to spell beyond DOGE's scope and genuinely tackle our semipermanent indebtedness and shortage crisis."

Open The Books highlighted 2 "common sense" standards to assistance found an "intellectually honest" attack to knowing the existent interaction of authorities cuts, specified arsenic those being recommended by DOGE.

The archetypal is the "durable standard," which asks whether a projected chopped tin beryllium easy reversed.

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"Describing thing arsenic ‘durable’ does not mean it is imperishable oregon irreversible; it simply means it is hard to reverse," the Open The Books' investigation stated. "The astir durable fund chopped successful our law strategy would beryllium passed by Congress, signed into instrumentality by the president and beryllium intelligibly constitutional, oregon unassailable successful a tribunal challenge. Budget cuts go little durable erstwhile they deficiency immoderate of these 3 elements."

The 2nd is called a "duty standard," which illuminates the powerfulness down definite cuts based connected who is trying to enforce them.

"In our law system, the founders gave the occupation of fund savings to 3 branches but chiefly to Congress," Open The Books points out. "DOGE’s occupation is to identify, not enact, savings targets. It’s up to Congress to bash the dense lifting. And We the People person a work to beryllium informed and clasp our elected officials accountable."

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White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House aft landing successful Marine One connected the South Lawn with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) connected Mar. 9, 2025, successful Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Open The Books yet concluded that owed to assorted limitations associated with publically disposable information connected authorities spending and revenue, successful peculiar a deficiency of real-time entree to the government's Treasury Payment System, it is inactive excessively hard for adjacent the astir motivated mean American national to either confirm, oregon deny, the savings claimed by DOGE.

Elon Musk officially stepped down from his relation arsenic DOGE main Thursday evening, arsenic his presumption of "special authorities employee" successful the Trump administration was constricted by instrumentality to a fewer months. Amid the transition, Musk criticized Republicans' spending measure that was passed up of Memorial Day successful the House, indicating helium was "disappointed" it would summation the national deficit. 

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"I was disappointed to spot the monolithic spending bill, frankly, which increases the fund deficit, not conscionable alteration it, and undermines the enactment that the DOGE squad is doing," Musk told CBS News successful an interrogation that volition aerial successful afloat connected June 1.