GAO says DOGE overstated $110 billion in savings

A congressional watchdog has concluded that a high-profile government cost-cutting initiative led by Elon Musk significantly overstated its claimed savings, with billions of dollars in reported taxpayer reductions being inaccurate, unsubstantiated, or already in progress before the agency existed. The Government Accountability Office report, released on August 6, 2026, found the Department of Government Efficiency's public "Wall of Receipts" was riddled with data quality issues that undermine its reliability.

The GAO investigation, requested by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Gary Peters, determined that $110 billion of the savings DOGE claimed from federal contracts, leases, and grants were either incorrect or lacked supporting evidence. The audit covered the agency's activities from its establishment by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, through July 7, 2026.

Among the specific inaccuracies cited, the watchdog found that 108 of the 264 federal property leases DOGE claimed to have terminated were already scheduled for cancellation before the department was created. In a prominent example, DOGE reported saving $1.7 billion by identifying a Defense Health...