President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk celebrated their efforts to cut federal spending, and Musk left the White House job. Musk was wearing a black hat and injured his right eye, which he blamed on his youngest son's fist. It was May 30 in the Oval Office. A few days later, the two billionaires pierced each other on the social media platform they own.
Their struggle began federal tax and spending legislation, with Musk calling the bill supported by the ace “disgusting” and Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Musk. Soon Musk claimed Trump and Republicans won in 2024 and Trump threatened to cut off Musk's federal contract.
Sorry, but I can't stand it.
This huge, cruel, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is disgusting.
Shame on those who vote: You know you're doing something wrong. You know.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2025
Public expression of hatred questioned the fate of the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for several months of work.
Under Musk's supervision, with Trump's approval, Duger provided billions of dollars in grants to state health departments and scientific research. It ruined the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, an institution established in the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers. This almost shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a decades-old department that provides food and health care to people in other countries.
Nevertheless, when Musk finished his work with Doge, it was clear that the organization's cost was not up to Musk's goal. A week before Trump won his second term, Musk said he expected to cut "at least $2 trillion" without determining the time to do so. Later, he lowered it to $1 trillion.
But both numbers are unrealistic. Even if Musk could have eliminated defensive discretionary spending per dollar — from air traffic control, medical research, federal prosecutors and prisons to border control, the U.S. embassy and national parks — he wouldn't reach the $1 trillion target.
As of early June, Doge's online "receipt wall" accountants cut federal funds, saying the government had cut $180 billion. But Politifact's analysis, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Conservative American Corporate Academy, shows that the provided Musk Jr. is flawed. Federal spending continues to grow in 2025 under Trump.
Nat Malkus, an education policy expert at conservative American Corporate Academy, said Doge's cuts showed "an appetite for recklessness" and that its errors and exaggerated receipt walls provide "a skeptical-filled affluent reason" for its accuracy. "Other than that, the receipt covers only a small part of their actions, making their achievements and savings unvalidated," Marcus said.
Doge's Wall of Receipts report says $18 billion in savings represents a series of lawsuits including leases and grant cancellations, "fraudulent and improper payment removals" and the elimination of employees.
In a May 30 press conference, Musk predicted savings would increase to $1 trillion, but their public controversy made Doge's future even more uncertain. Some senior lieutenants have left. Dozens of threshold employees are still left.
Doge said its receipt wall is incomplete: “We are working to upload all receipts in a digestible and transparent manner, in compliance with applicable rules and regulations,” the website calls its listing “a subset of contracts, grants and lease cancellations representing about 30% of the total savings.”
And there is an error. For example, Doge said it would end the lease for a lease to save $740,457, which houses records from the Barack Obama Presidential Library. But the federal government has planned to end the lease in 2025. The property's rental company told Politifact on May 30 that the government is still using the property and paying rent. If the government leaves by September, payment must continue under the terms of the lease unless another tenant is guaranteed.
Some of Doge's contracts and grant cancellations are in the process of litigation and may eventually require the government to fulfill them.
“Even for grants and contracts for layoffs, the claimed savings may not be achieved,” said Joshua Sewell, a federal budget expert for taxpayers.
Politifact found that the $100 million figure is ambition, expected.
"The cuts that are proven item by item - the cuts that have receipts - are about half," said Dominik Lett, a budget policy analyst at the Liberal Cato Institute. "In these item by item, there are many paperwork errors and bloated savings values."
Government officials did not answer our questions about how many federal employees were laid off. The New York Times reported that as of May 12, the government reduced its labor force by about 135,000, including cuts and buyouts. This is equivalent to a small portion of the 2.4 million federal labor force, and also saves wages. In addition to acquisitions and shooting, Reuters News Agency also has to calculate early retirement, he said Talley is 260,000.
When the acquisition of 75,000 employees in October saved about $10 billion a year, or 0.1% of federal spending, Jessica Riedl, a federal budget expert at the Conservative Manhattan College, wrote in an Atlantic article. (Trump quoted 75,000 figures in a May 30 press conference.) But the administration may eventually hire contractors to perform some work, further reducing those savings.
Not every institution or department faces widespread cuts. The New York Times found that the Justice Department's personnel fell by about 1%. But almost all employees were cut in the USAID and Americans. Nearly half of the education sector’s staff have been cut.
Federal spending continues to increase. According to the Congressional Budget Office, total spending was $59.4 billion in April 2025, an increase of $27 billion from April 2024. This increased by 5%. The biggest spending cut – $17 billion – at the Education Department, Trump promised to cancel. But Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid fares have also increased, and some sector spending has also increased, including agriculture and defense.
Some of Doge's order items show zero dollar savings, which a White House spokesman said means the money has been spent but will not be renewed, such as news subscriptions or training. It also shows negative values for some grants. A State Council spokesman said they were caused by input errors corrected on-site at noon on June 5 (16:00 GMT).
It is unclear whether Doge's spending cuts will be permanent, as federal law requires the executive to approve the proposed cuts (called "retirement") to Congress. The White House sent a $9.4 billion set of cancellation cuts to Congress on June 3, including reducing foreign aid.
"Doch can kill the project, but the expenses can't be saved until Congress votes for the 'Promise' money," Marcus said.
Doge also adds some government expenses, such as the costs incurred when defending the lawsuit.
According to an analysis by the Center for Progress of the Liberal Party, there is no state that has not touched on morality. It terminates leasing and grants from health departments, universities and volunteer programs nationwide.
Doge lists hundreds of millions of dollars in terminations in state health departments' grants, representing the group's largest "savings." The cuts target health departments in states such as Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
The government said the cuts mainly affected the funding response to the common 19-19 pandemic.
Twenty-three states challenged the lawsuit, which argued that the move caused “tremendous confusion”, including “direct damage to public health programs and the termination of a large number of state and local public health employees and contractors.” In mid-May, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government to release frozen funds.
"These funds support infections in state and local health departments and provide mental health services and fund addiction treatment programs," said Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Other cuts include nearly $400 million in Americorps grants, resulting in the termination of more than 32,000 Americorps members and volunteers, as well as historic pollution from the U.S. federal international humanitarian and development unit USAID.
A local Americorps program serves Louisiana, filed a lawsuit to stop cutting its $700,000 grant, aiming to tie 37 workers to Louisiana nonprofits, including food banks, libraries and boys and girls clubs as of August. As of June 2, the lawsuit is underway.
"Our nonprofit partners are now scrambling to adapt to the help they are not expecting," said Lisa Moore, executive director of Serving Louisiana.
The United States Agency for International Development plans aim to reduce hunger and disease and promote democracy globally. In fiscal year 2024, USAID accounted for 0.3% of the federal budget. Weeks after Trump's inauguration, Duger froze almost all U.S. Agency for International Development's spending and terminated nearly all employees.
Musk boasted on February 3 that Doge fed "USAID into woodworking" and two weeks later he waved a chainsaw during a conservative political campaign to symbolize what he called his attack on the federal bureaucracy.
The demolition of the United States Agency for International Development has spread global impacts.
NPR reported in Ukraine that it is the recipient of the largest U.S. Agency for International Development’s fund since the 2022 invasion - regional media lost funds and medical charities shut down plans to screen and treat tuberculosis and HIV.
Diplomats in Malawi, U.S. said U.S. food plans cut US food plans increased criminal activity, sexual violence and human trafficking, ProPublica reported. Propublica said U.S. Embassy officials in Kenya said funding cuts to refugee camp food plans have led to violent demonstrations.
People also died from chaotic aid disruptions, according to Al Jazeera, NPR, the Associated Press and other news organizations.
There is still no scam.
The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to four million people in Africa may die from treatable diseases without the U.S. Agency for International Development’s funding. A former U.S. Agency for International Development official told Reuters that $98 million worth of food rations could supply 3.5 million people per month with rotten food, some could be destroyed due to cuts. The World Health Organization warned in March that U.S. Agency for International Development cuts could trigger a global increase in TB cases and deaths.
Musk and Trump said Doyle would also eliminate fraud. The administration's report predates Trump's current performance fraud is a real problem, but so far it has not proven that it has recently discovered mass fraud.
A White House spokesman said 50 criminal referrals were caused by Jogg's work, noting three people who voted as a non-referendum in New York or Florida. The federal prosecutor's statement said Doge assisted the case. Such cases were prosecuted before Doge was created.