Doge wants to reduce $ 1 trillion this year. But they don’t look at high spending drivers

This story originally appeared on Pr.

Elon Musk and his government efficiency department have an ambitious objective to reduce $ 1 trillion in federal expenses by the end of September year.

But Doge’s movements so far to cancel the contracts, conclude rentals and push federal agencies to reduce their work forces barely make a stage in the general balance of the government – even if you take Doge’s savings at nominal value.

And as. NPR reportedThese claims of early dog ​​savings were inaccurate and drastically overvalued.

In Congress, in which decisions regarding trillion dollars in expenses are debated and authorized in loan invoices, the Republicans of the Chamber have approved a framework This would include 4.5 trillion dollars in tax reductions and a 2 trillion dollars lens in spending discounts. There are several steps until such as this kind could receive the final approval.

It is through the action of Congress, not Doge, where any change in the expenses and revenue collection would happen on a significant scale, said Jessica Riedl from the Institut of Manhattan Center.

“Think of the Congress and his budget as the father who was led by debts on the path to buy a Ferrari of $ 250,000 on the credit card, and Doge is the $ 2 gas card that he used during the course,” Riedl said. “It is great that he saved $ 2 on gas, but I think his wife could be more concerned about the $ 250,000 car.”

Doge’s alleged savings represent a decrease in budget bucket

For each dollar that the federal government spent so far from the beginning of this fiscal year in October 2024, Doge-which has begun to work in mid-January claimed to save the equivalent of about four penny.

From October 1, 2024, by January 31, 2025, the federal government has collected 1.6 trillion dollars and spent 2.4 trillion dollarsleaving a deficit of close $ 840 billion So far this fiscal year.

As of March 3, Doge has claimed savings of 105 billion dollars From a combination of things such as rental endings, cancellation of the contract and the dismissal of federal workers.

For context, this is more than double What the Inner Security Department reported the expenses in the first quarter of this fiscal year and slightly lower than what the Veterans Business Department has spent for medical benefits and care for millions of veterans. Is also one third of what the government has paid in interest 36 billion dollars National debt in the first four months of the fiscal year.

However, Doge’s request of $ 105 billion saved in six weeks cannot be proved, and the “wall of the receipts” that represent a fraction of this number is full of inaccurate data that were revised several times for accuracy. Government contracting experts also say that Doge’s web site swells the requests for “savings” by including the deceitful mathematics about the cancellations of the contract.

The White House did not answer the NPR questions about how Doge calculates its total economy or how Doge effort could work with the Congress on federal expenses.

But even Doge’s 105 billion $ 105 billion is less than half of what Musk himself says is necessary to meet his savings goal.

“It is necessary to save $ 4 billion a day every day until the end of September,” Musk said during President Trump Cabinet meeting Last week. “But we can do it and we will.”

Doge has focused so far on things such as contracting and the number of head of employees, which represents a small slice of pies with government expenses.

He remembers a similar move for Musk, who, after buying Twitter in 2022, escaped most of his staff. Unlike the private industry, if the salaries and benefits of employees are the top expenses, the costs of the federal government staff represent about 4% of the expenses.