Dominik Lett
Dominik Lett
While Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has rightfully drawn attention to some pretty silly and wasteful spending, it has overpromised and underdelivered on verifiable spending cuts. This should not be a surprise. Substantial deficit reduction by unilateral executive decree was never a realistic outcome, given that Congress holds the power of the purse.
Nonetheless, the original mission of DOGE to downsize government and eliminate wasteful spending remains as relevant as ever. That’s precisely why Congress needs to take the reins and embrace big, bold spending cuts via reconciliation and presidentially initiated rescissions.
DOGE Will Not Close the Deficit and That’s Okay
Back in October, Elon Musk set the spending cut target at $2 trillion. That was quickly walked back to $1 trillion. Over the last few months, DOGE has had some modest successes, eliminating billions of dollars in government contracts and shrinking the federal workforce by about 12,000 personnel on net (closer to a 130,000 personnel cut in gross). At the same time, DOGE has suffered several major legal setbacks and self-imposed embarrassing blunders. The cumulative result? Elon lowered DOGE’s estimated savings again. This time down to $150 billion.
Unfortunately, even that $150 billion claim is optimistic. Itemized, verifiable cuts (those with receipts) sit at just $63 billion. Many of these receipts lack detail, contain errors, or otherwise have excessive savings claims that make the topline figure suspect. Per AEI’s Nat Malkus, accounting for clerical errors and inflated contract values roughly halves the claimed savings from contract elimination. The final tally of cuts could be slimmer when all is said and done.
By any clear-eyed account, Elon and DOGE are failing to meet their objective to deliver major spending cuts. Look no further than federal outlays, which today are about $135 billion higher than they were last year, » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/doge-fell-short-spending-cuts-now-congress-must-lead