The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has been making waves in the federal government since its inception. Here are some of the key accomplishments so far:
Spending Cuts: DOGE has claimed more than $1 billion per day in spending cuts, focusing on canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, consulting contracts, and underutilized leases.
Efficiency Improvements: DOGE has been working to modernize federal technology and software to maximize efficiency and productivity.
Contract Cancellations: The department has canceled numerous federal contracts, resulting in significant savings. For example, they canceled 36 contracts across six agencies, leading to savings of about $165 million.
Transparency Initiatives: DOGE has launched a website to track its savings efforts and provide transparency on its actions. DOGE Live Tracker website at:
Workforce Reductions: DOGE has been tasked with reducing the size of the federal workforce by as much as 10 percent.
These efforts have been met with both praise and criticism, as DOGE continues to push for greater efficiency and accountability within the federal government.
Career bureaucrats held more power than our elected officials, until DOGE came along. Some highlights from the last month include:
Pilot program across 14 civilian agencies to audit unused/unneeded personal credit cards, “P-cards”, (~700K accounts with ~$30B spent in FY24). After 8 days, ~24,000 cards were de-activated, which will likely double. " There are still almost twice as many credit/purchasing cards as people in the government, and the limits are $10,000! " - Elon Musk
NIH canceled grants for ~$10.9 million including: -$1.7M for the “China Health and Retirement Longitudinal study” at Peking University in Beijing, China -$135K for a research grant to China Medical University in Shenyang, China -$142K for “using telehealth to improve access to gender-affirming care” -$1.3M for “transforming health for gender-diverse young adults” -$120K for “personalized 3-D avatar tool development” focused on “gender identities” -$400K for researching “sources of minority stress and alcohol consumption” among “adults who report uncertainty about their sexual orientation” -$160K for researching “racialized sexual discrimination” among “young sexual minority men of color” -$241K for “an intervention to promote healthy relationships among transgender and gender expansive youth”
US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following, all which have been cancelled: $60M for "Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment" - $74M for "inclusive justice" in Colombia - $79M for "primary literacy" in Kenya - $37M for "female empowerment" in Colombia - $8M to "Reduce stigma, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ communities" in Lesotho - $3.3M for "being LGBTQI in the Caribbean" - $25k to increase "Vegan Local Climate Action Innovation" in Zambia- -$69mm for the Eurasia Foundation to do "digital transformation activity" in Europe -$32mm to Internews for programs including "media enabling democracy, inclusion, and accountability in Moldova" and the promotion of “sustainable media outlets" -$7mm for the American Bar Association to promote the "resilience" of the "Eurasian legal sector and civic society" -$520mm for a consultant to do ESG investments in Africa and "mobilize private sector resources and expertise” -$25mm to “promote biodiversity conservation and promote licit livelihoods” by developing “socially responsible” behaviors in Colombia -$40mm to "improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants" -$42mm for Johns Hopkins to research and drive "social and behavior change" in Uganda -$45mm to "address the needs, opportunities, and challenges identified by activists and other civic actors engaged in nonviolent collective action" -$52mm for the World Economic Forum-$14M for cash vouchers for illegal migrants $55K for a climate change presentation by female & LGBT journalists in Argentina-$3M for "Being LGBTQ in the Caribbean"-$7M for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) speaker series IN Canada-$16K for "united and equal queer-feminist discourse" IN Albania-$87.9M for "drip irrigation system" for Taliban farmers in Afghanistan.