Department of Government Efficiency

DOGE has made multiple inconsistent claims about savings ranging from $55 billion to $205 billion. Independent analysis by NPR found only $2 billion in verifiable cuts (0.03% of federal spending). Meanwhile, U.S. government spent $376 billion MORE in FY 2025 vs prior year (6% increase), and federal deficit grew by $1.8 trillion.

DOJ announced the largest health care fraud takedown in U.S. history in June 2025, charging 324 defendants with fraud exceeding $14.6 billion—double the previous record of $6 billion. The government seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets.

OPM cut its annual spending on federal contracts by 50%—from $484 million to $242 million—demonstrating that significant reductions are possible with proper scrutiny.

DOGE found that NASA eliminated approximately 80% of unused Purchasing Cards and terminated approximately $420 million in unneeded contracts. This represents proactive identification and elimination of wasteful spending.

DOGE identified and terminated an HR IT development program called DCHRMS that was $280 million (780%) over budget and 5 years behind schedule, representing classic government IT project failure.

The SBA Inspector General estimates $200 billion in fraud from pandemic relief programs: $64 billion from PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and $136 billion from EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loans). Over 650 active investigations are underway, with 700+ indictments and $1.2 billion in total charged losses.

Louisiana DOGE worked with state agencies to run residency checks on Medicaid recipients and discovered $75 million per year being spent on people who don't live in Louisiana, representing clear eligibility fraud.

GAO's February 2025 High Risk List identifies 38 areas across the federal government seriously vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. Progress on addressing these issues has led to approximately $759 billion in savings—averaging $40 billion per year.

GAO estimates the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud across all programs and agencies, based on fiscal years 2018-2022 data. This staggering range reflects the difficulty in measuring fraud and the pervasiveness of fraudulent activity.

The IRS projects a gross tax gap of $696 billion for tax year 2022, representing taxes legally owed but not paid voluntarily and on time. After enforcement activities recovered $90 billion, the net tax gap still totaled $606 billion—13.1% of total tax revenue owed. Voluntary Compliance Rate is only 85%.

Senator Rand Paul's 2024 "Festivus Report" documented over $1 trillion in government waste across numerous agencies and programs.

Sixteen federal agencies reported $162 billion in improper payments across 68 programs in FY 2024, with 75% concentrated in just 5 program areas. Since 2003, federal agencies have reported $2.8 trillion in estimated improper payments.

The Pentagon failed its 7th consecutive financial audit in November 2024, unable to account for 63% of its $3.8 trillion in assets. Despite a $824 billion annual budget, DOD cannot provide sufficient documentation to auditors. Only 9 of 28 DOD areas passed audit requirements.