WASHINGTON—A new list from the White House assesses the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) financial impact so far at more than $3.4 billion, with substantial savings realized through cuts to the Department of Education.
The latest numbers, provided to The Epoch Times on Feb. 11, include $59 million that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff sent to house illegal immigrants in New York City hotels. The White House has sought to claw back that money.
The list also includes a variety of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) contracts and grants, many in the Department of Education, as well as moves against DEI-related directives and policies deemed as out of step with the new administration’s priorities. On the first day of his new presidency, President Donald Trump issued an executive order against DEI in the federal government.
One item is a $45 million DEI scholarship in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The White House also touts $500,000 in canceled subscriptions to Politico Pro, as well as funding to The New York Times and The Associated Press.
Lease cancellations and canceled consulting contracts add to the multi-billion-dollar savings total several weeks after DOGE’s inception.
The temporary executive branch commission has also been promoting its findings and presidentially-approved actions on X, the social media platform owned by DOGE leader Elon Musk.
Musk campaigned for Trump ahead of the November 2024 election. The prospect of a reform-oriented DOGE, with Musk at the helm, was promoted by the candidate before Election Day.
In a Feb. 11 appearance in the Oval Office, where Trump was signing an executive order further empowering DOGE, Musk defended the work of his organization, saying he seeks “common-sense controls” on the federal bureaucracy.
“The people voted for major government reform,” Musk said.
DOGE has faced a backlash from many congressional Democrats and progressive groups. Litigation is mounting.
One lawsuit over DOGE employees’ access to Treasury Department payment systems data resulted in a court order from Judge Paul Engelmayer on Feb. 8, temporarily preventing DOGE employees from looking at that data and requiring that they destroy any of it they may have obtained.
On Feb. 11, in response to a Justice Department filing that challenged Engelmayer’s order, Judge Jeanette Vargas maintained the DOGE employee prohibition while clarifying that the ban did not prevent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from accessing his own department’s data.
Vargas will preside over a hearing on the DOGE case on Feb. 14.
In the Oval Office on Feb. 11, Trump questioned Engelmayer’s order.
“How could a judge want to hold us back from finding all of this fraud and finding all of this incompetence?” he asked.
