6 Charts That Explain DOGE-Related Cuts So Far

The agency has targeted $105 billion in federal spending in six weeks.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has reported $105 billion in spending reductions during the first six weeks of the Trump administration.

DOGE, and Musk in particular, have drawn applause from President Donald Trump but criticism from others. Critics have cited concerns about the security of government data and the legality of some of the administration’s actions, such as the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the dismissal of thousands of federal employees.

While DOGE is an advisory body that does not have authority to cut funding or fire people, its recommendations have been acted upon by agency officials.

Here is a look at where the agency has recommended the most cuts. Many of the cuts represent ongoing savings, because the program or service would have continued for years. The total so far represents a small fraction of the total cuts Musk predicted.

Musk has said he intends to trim $2 trillion from the nation’s budget by next year, but many analysts say this is unlikely to happen. In 2023, the federal budget was $6.1 trillion, with a $1.7 trillion budget deficit.

Unused Real Estate

The General Services Administration (GSA) owns or leases more than 8,600 buildings around the country, some of which are vacant or underoccupied.

So far DOGE has recommended the cancellation of 748 leases totaling nearly $269 million and comprising 9.6 million square feet of space.

The GSA owns or leases another 188 buildings that are vacant and another 96 that are at least 50 percent vacant. That is about 28 million square feet of unoccupied space, enough to cover 140 city blocks in New York City’s borough of Manhattan.

The federal government holds about 3 million square feet of office space in Washington alone. At the Jan. 28 meeting of the Public Meetings Control Board, a report identified several Washington properties that are “under consideration for disposal, presenting an opportunity to reimagine the future of the capital city.”

Waste

Some government waste results from inattention or spending choices that simply do not pan out. Individuals make similar mistakes when forgetting to cancel a free trial subscription or sinking more money into a remodeling project that is already over budget.

For example, DOGE reported that the GSA, acting on DOGE recommendations, has canceled more than 114,000 unused software licenses and 15 underused or redundant software applications. This has produced annual savings of $9.6 million.

DOGE identified a website overhaul by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that was funded with a $6 million loan from the Technology Modernization Fund. Although $5 million had already been spent, the project was far from completion. If finished, the hosting service would have cost $400,000 per year versus the $1,000 annual fee for the current site. OPM canceled the project.

Changed Priorities

Implementing the priorities of the Trump administration has driven some spending cuts, including the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and gender-related programs.

That has resulted in cutting $28 million in funding for a diversity and inclusion scholarship program in Burma (also known as Myanmar), $41 million for a gender equality and women empowerment hub, $373 million marked for DEI-related training grants, and $33 million for equity assistance centers.

Some cuts have reflected other priority shifts, including $37 million for Pacific Islands climate finance and $1.9 billion for information technology operations in the IRS.

The radical reorganization of USAID, due to the administration’s “America First” policy on foreign aid and questions about how the agency was using funds, has so far resulted in nearly $14 billion in spending reductions.

Resignations and Layoffs

The OPM in January offered a deferred resignation with seven months’ continued salary for federal employees who voluntarily resigned. About 77,000 workers accepted.

The administration also ordered federal workers to return to the office by March 1. Many had continued working from home since the pandemic ended in May 2023.

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“We wish to keep everyone who is doing a job that is essential and doing that job well,” Musk said on Feb. 26. “But if the job is not essential or they’re not doing the job well, they obviously should not be on the public payroll.”

The number of layoffs has not been announced by the OPM, and some layoffs have been blocked or delayed by federal judges. A website that aggregates media reports of layoffs lists more than 32,000 federal employees laid off from 13 departments and 13 independent agencies. The Epoch Times has requested clarification from the OPM.

Excluding active-duty military and Postal Service employees, the federal government employs 2.4 million people at an average salary of about $80,300.

Progress

DOGE has made errors in contract cancellations, such as canceling an Ebola prevention project and laying off nuclear engineers whose positions are vital to the Department of Defense.

In both cases, the actions were quickly reversed.

“We will make mistakes,” Musk told the president’s Cabinet at its first meeting on Feb. 26. “We won’t be perfect.”

“When we make mistakes, we'll fix it very quickly,” he added, citing the reinstatement of funding for Ebola prevention as an example.

One of DOGE’s aims is to prevent errors. The federal government has a self-reported improper payments rate of about 4 percent. That means nearly $150 billion was paid last year for medical claims, contracts, and other services without proper documentation or because of other errors.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the year in which the federal government officially ended the pandemic emergency. The Epoch Times regrets the error.