Does DOGE cost the same as it saves? This study says it cost $135 billion to cut $160 billion

Though Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, often referred to as DOGE, claims to have saved U.S. taxpayers $160 billion, new reports show that his efforts might be costing taxpayers even more.

A report by the Partnership for Public Service (PSP), highlighted in coverage on DOGE by CBS News, calculated the cost of DOGE’s work to reduce the federal workforce quickly. The organization looked at the amount spent on placing workers on administrative leave, where they continue to receive their salaries but do no work for the taxpayer. The figure also includes the cost of rehiring workers who were laid off in a massive cut but later asked to return. Lastly, the report also calculates the productivity losses resulting from the firing of thousands of workers and the placement of thousands more on leave. The total estimated by PSP reaches $135 billion this fiscal year alone.

Consider the chaos over at the Department of Energy, where the Associated Press and CBS News reported that approximately 2,000 employees—some responsible for guarding the nation’s nuclear arsenal—were abruptly dismissed. However, within weeks, all but 28 were asked to return to their posts.

Questions raised about DOGE’s internal calculations

If DOGE’s savings are to be believed, this would mean a net savings of $25 billion, far from the $1 trillion in savings the billionaire hopes to cut in the first year of President Trump’s term. PSP’s report follows coverage from several outlets that highlight mistakes or inaccuracies in DOGE’s calculations. For instance, Politico found that of thousands of contracts cancelled by DOGE, were never awarded, or listed multiple times, overestimating the total savings from the singular agreement. The researchers also identified cases “where the underlying document is for an entirely different contract.”

In the month following DOGE’s creation, the New York Times identified a mistake in one of the savings claims, wherein DOGE had said that $8 billion would be saved, rather than $8 million.

Changes made by DOGE and the Trump administration are unpopular

In addition to examining the cost of DOGE’s efforts to quickly reduce the size of the federal workforce, PSP’s polling has found that these efforts are not popular.

PSP’s survey was responded to by 1000 people, 54 percent of which, including 87 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents, opposed the changes being made. Among Republicans, support for the work of the administration stood around 79 percent, but 44 percent reported concerns that the federal government might be losing critical personnel and their institutional knowledge by laying off so many workers so quickly.

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