Elon Musk and DOGE cancel Obama Presidential Library contract: what does it mean for its future?
The Department of Government Efficiency are continuing with their drastic cuts of federal contracts.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has revoked the lease for the Barack Obama Presidential Library near Chicago as part of DOGE’s broader termination of thousands of federal contracts and hundreds of leases.
Trump’s promise to cut contracts, save money and shrink the government workforce has been spearheaded by the unelected Musk, the owner of Tesla.
DOGE said on its official website that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has terminated its $1.48 million annual lease with the Obama Presidential Library, the 14th presidential library administered by NARA.
DOGE cut child cancer research, and trump deregulated cancer causing PFAs, and he used a kid who had cancer as a prop. I’m fucking disgusted.
— Secular Talk (KyleKulinskiShow@bsky.social) (@KyleKulinski) March 5, 2025
Latest DOGE cuts ‘fakery about unrealised savings’
The site is home to over 35,000 artefacts related to the Obama administration, including art, books and other historical materials, as well as millions of documents. According to the General Services Administration, NARA began leasing the building in 2016, paying $1.4 million a year in rent; DOGE claims that the cuts will result in total savings of $740,457.
The Chicago Tribune writes that Obama keepsakes in storage include a jewelled sword from Saudi Arabia, dresses worn by Michelle Obama, and a baseball signed by the 2010 San Francisco Giants. Said items will be sent to a permanent site in College Park, Maryland.
Musk is said to be looking to close down roughly half of the government office space nationwide, although nearly 40% of the approximately 2,300 contract terminations won’t result in cost savings, according to the Associated Press, as the funds have already been spent or allocated.
DOGE says it’s closing Hoffman Estates’ Obama Presidential Library site, but federal officials had already announced lease endinghttps://t.co/ggLge3JtBN
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) March 3, 2025
Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor, told The Chicago Tribune: “It’s possible (DOGE) has some particular malice toward the real estate holding the archives for the last really popular two-term president. But it’s more likely that it’s fakery about unrealised savings, the same as in hundreds of other contracts.”
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