Elon Musk's DOGE Savings Of $55 Billion May Be Overstated — WSJ Analysis Reveals The Likely Actual Figure

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been found to overstate its savings from federal spending cuts.

What Happened: The DOGE, which has been promoting cuts amounting to $55 billion, primarily from canceled DEI and climate contracts, might not be as successful as it says, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ analysis of government contract data provided by Deltek, a government contracting expert and data provider, indicates that the actual savings may be much lower, potentially around $2.6 billion over the next year if spending levels remain unchanged. Only about 2% of the funds would have gone to DEI-related contracts.

White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

Research-focused agencies, including the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, were the primary targets of these budget cuts. DOGE canceled contracts valued at over $900 million last year, affecting more than 60 agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Notably, government contracts involving over 500 companies have been published on the DOGE website. It states that the defense engineering company Leidos had its contract for supporting the Social Security Administration's technology canceled.DOGE stated that this could result in savings of approximately $230 million. However, Leidos clarified, ” "Our work supporting the Social Security Administration, and the millions of Americans it serves, is on contract and ongoing.”

Although DOGE says its estimates are conservative, experts told the WSJ that the total savings displayed on its site are likely overstated. More than a quarter of the contracts listed by DOGE had already been paid, leading to no real savings.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Begins Hiring For Cybercab Manufacturing As Elon Musk-Led EV Giant Prepares For Robotaxi Rollout

Why It Matters: These findings come in the wake of previous controversies surrounding DOGE. Last week, DOGE faced criticism when its website, which was supposed to host all departmental updates, was found to be completely blank. Mark Cuban, a longtime advocate for reducing government size and enhancing efficiency, criticized Musk on social media because of this, stating, "This says it all."

Furthermore, the ‘DOGE dividend’, endorsed by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, which proposes to return 20% of the savings from DOGE initiatives to American citizens has raised eyebrows.  Erica York, Vice President of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, cautioned that spending the savings would "reduce the effectiveness of the entire effort." Meanwhile, Jessica Riedl, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, posted on X that with nearly $2 billion in budget deficit estimated $4 billion in DOGE savings would translate to just $2.42 per person if evenly distributed.

• READ MORE: Elon Musk’s DOGE Reports Nearly $4.7 Trillion Untraceable In Federal Payments, Makes TAS Tag Mandatory

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.