DOGE unveils $55 Billion in savings to date

Led by Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency has published on its website the savings achieved during the first weeks of the Trump administration.

The Eisenhower Building, where the DOGE office is located.(Wikipedia)

Published by

Vanessa Vallejo

February 18, 2025

2 minutes read

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Less than a month into office, the Donald Trump administration has announced that its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already saved $55 billion. Accorfding to the department's website, which was established by Trump and is led by Elon Musk, these savings are "a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings."

In the first few weeks of this administration, DOGE has been sharing on its X account and website details of outrageous expenditures that were canceled, along with estimates of the savings from eliminating federal offices and positions, among other actions. With this latest update, the website now includes a list of the agencies that have faced the deepest cuts and publishes receipts for some of the canceled contracts.

Top 10 agencies with the most savings

Topping the list is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has achieved the highest total savings in canceled contracts, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of its budget. Following USAID in the top 10 agencies with the greatest contract savings are, in order: the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Health and Human Services, and, in fifth place, the Department of Agriculture.

Frozen USAID resources

One of President Trump’s first actions was to freeze most international aid disbursed through USAID in order to review spending and assess its effectiveness. Additionally, thousands of agency employees have been placed on administrative leave. The administration has also highlighted some of USAID’s most controversial spending, including funding for transgender operations, sex changes, and other gender-related initiatives in underdeveloped countries, all paid for with American taxpayer dollars.

Meanwhile, in the top 10 list of agencies with the highest contract savings as a percentage of their budget, USAID is followed by, in order: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Executive Office of the President, the General Services Administration, and, in fifth place, the Department of Education.

List of receipts

Following the two lists of agencies with the highest taxpayer savings, the website also provides receipts for canceled contracts and terminated real estate leases. It notes that these specific contracts account for about 20% of DOGE’s total savings. Additionally, the site announces that updates will initially be posted twice a week, with plans to enhance the system over time for real-time updates.

The receipts reveal that DOGE saved over $199 million by cutting programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The documents also show that subscriptions to media outlets like Politico and the Washington Post were eliminated from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget, resulting in nearly $30 million in savings.

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