Latest news with #spendingcuts
Sky News
7 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
How Elon Musk's mission to cut government spending fell flat
In February, President Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a brand-new agency tasked with overhauling the US government. In 2024, the US government spent $7.6tn across hundreds of agencies. DOGE was asked to cut this spending. Originally, Mr Musk wanted to cut $2tn, but, by January, he dialled back his ambitions to $1tn. More recently, he said DOGE would save just $150bn by the end of the 2026 financial year. And yet overall government spending hasn't decreased. During Trump's presidency so far, the administration has spent $190bn more than the same period last year. As Mr Musk exits government, Sky News' Data and Forensics team takes a closer look at what DOGE promised, what's been delivered, and who's been hit hardest by its changes. On 1 April, Washington DC resident Alex Saint woke up to an unexpected email in her inbox. "Your duties have been identified as either unnecessary or virtually identical to duties being performed elsewhere in the agency," it read. "You will be separated from the Federal service effective June 2, 2025." It wasn't an April Fools' joke. Alex and most of her team of communications specialists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been cut by DOGE. Her team answered more than 40,000 phone calls last year - 70% of which came from the public to ask questions about medications, she said. Now, "there's no way to get those answers to the public", Alex said. "I am very concerned that Americans are going to get hurt or potentially killed by all of the delays that DOGE has caused." In reply to Sky News' request for comment, the FDA said it remains "committed to applying gold standard science to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs and vaccines for the American people". "The agency fully adheres to all applicable laws and regulations, and all drug safety recalls, testing, and investigations have continued," the statement added. The origins of DOGE When Donald Trump established DOGE via executive order in late January, to many Americans it seemed just the solution to a problem they'd been pointing to for years. Two-thirds of Americans think there is considerable waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending, according to the Cato Institute. And they have good reason to - the US Government Accountability Office estimates about $2.8tn has been lost since 2003 to improper payments, including duplicates and fraud. So far, DOGE has slashed billions of dollars' worth of programmes, contracts and grants and cut tens of thousands of jobs. Mr Musk has proudly boasted that he has taken a chainsaw to the federal government. But despite his efforts, overall spending is up. And a Republican bill championed by Mr Trump, which commits trillions for tax breaks, could see further increases to the government's debt. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly," he told CBS Sunday Morning early this week, adding it "undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing". The tone was much cheerier at a farewell press conference in the Oval Office on Friday. "I think the DOGE team is doing an incredible job," Mr Musk said after accepting a ceremonial key from the president. "They're going to continue to be doing an incredible job." The spending cuts The first agency to feel the full force of Mr Musk's metaphorical chainsaw was the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Delivering aid and development assistance around the world, the department was an obvious target for Mr Trump. In February, he described it as an "incompetent and really corrupt" agency run by "radical lunatics". Although USAID was worth less than 1% of federal spending, DOGE cut thousands of its contracts in the first few weeks, claiming savings of $12bn. As the weeks went on and cuts to foreign assistance and "diversity, equity and inclusion" (DEI) programmes failed to match the billionaire's ambitions, Mr Musk turned towards other targets such as the Department of Defense. Glaring inaccuracies As of 15 May, DOGE was claiming a total of $170bn saved. But Sky News analysis shows there are many reasons to question this figure. 1. The total savings aren't verifiable Mr Musk has repeatedly promised DOGE would operate with "maximum transparency" by posting receipts from cuts on its website. But only $70.9bn of the claimed $170bn in savings are listed. And only $41.2bn of those cuts have any documentation attached for verification. 2. The purported savings don't always match other government sources Of the listings that have documentation attached, some of the numbers don't add up. Take the cancelling of a contract between Accenture Federal Services LLC, a government operations consulting firm, and the US Treasury. DOGE claims it will save the government $167.2m. When we checked the details of the contract on the US government's procurement website, the savings we calculated were smaller. The total amount the government could possibly spend under the terms of the agreement - the contract cap - was $197.2m. The US Treasury had already spent $78.2m. The difference between those numbers, or the total savings by cancelling it, is only $119m - $48m less than DOGE claimed. 3. Some cuts occurred before DOGE was created Take the sale of this US Forest Service building in Ogden, Utah, for example. Despite a DOGE tweet implying that its $3.4m sale was a result of their efforts, the acquisition of the historic building by the local government was already being arranged in December. Sky News asked the White House for an explanation for the accounting errors on the DOGE website, as well as whether they believed DOGE wrongly claimed credit for the sale of the US Forest Service building, but they did not respond. Unprecedented layoffs DOGE has managed to create sizeable cracks in the foundation of the US government by firing an unprecedented number of people. Over 60,000 government employees have been laid off. More than 110,000 people have also left through a deferred resignation programme DOGE launched, according to Roger Lee, an independent researcher who has been tracking media reports of government layoffs. Mass layoffs are part of Mr Musk's business playbook - after buying Twitter in 2022 he fired 80% of the workforce. But it doesn't work to treat the government like a company, says Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University. In business, Mr Musk has been "laser focused on efficiency, streamlining, getting rid of useless parts, getting rid of what he sees as useless employees, and then still producing the product at the end", said Prof Slobodian. "The problem with the federal government is it doesn't just produce one thing." "To think that you can use the same approaches of streamlining that you use in a firm and scale it up to the level of the entire state is extraordinarily reckless." The largest exodus has been from the US Treasury, which has lost more than 29,000 employees. Almost all of those workers were at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the government tax authority. Analysis from the Budget Lab at Yale University suggests the job losses will cost more than they will save. While eliminating 22,000 positions is projected to save the IRS $1.8bn in 2026, the resulting loss in tax revenue is estimated at $10.3bn. In other words, having significantly fewer employees means it is likely less tax will be collected. After 20 years as a civil servant, Sylvie Williams was recently informed she'd be losing her job at the IRS. At the taxpayer experience office, she worked to make filing taxes - a notoriously complicated process in the US - easier for the average citizen. "Is there waste? Definitely. Can there be efficiencies? Yes. Can we move faster? Yes," she admits. "But it wasn't done correctly." Nearly 2% of the US workforce is employed by the federal government. Combined with their families, this represents a significant portion of the American population affected by DOGE layoffs. Sky News has seen some of these employees' dismissal letters, known as Reduction in Force (RIF) notices. They make it difficult for staff to dispute being fired. One gives the email for an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) officer to get in touch with to file a complaint. But the EEO officer listed stopped working for the federal government before the RIF notice was sent, according to their LinkedIn profile. Another outlined how usual redundancy practices were no longer required after an executive order, signed by Mr Trump in March, waived collective bargaining rights for many government employees, citing "national security requirements and considerations". There are currently multiple ongoing legal battles against these mass layoffs, with several focused on disputing that executive order. Because of the legal challenges, Alex has been told she may have her job reinstated. Already, a few of her colleagues at the FDA have returned to work, she says. The other human costs Many other Americans have felt the impact of these cuts. Across the country, medical research trials and treatment programs have been axed by DOGE. In California and Florida, for example, research into HIV treatment was cut. In states such as Mississippi and Oklahoma, funding for substance abuse treatment programs was axed - even as Mr Trump declared tackling fentanyl overdoses a priority. And cuts to vaccination programmes are already being felt. Funding was cut for measles immunisation efforts across Texas in April, which some worry has worsened a measles outbreak across the state. But there's no evidence to support this yet. School nutrition programmes and food banks around the country have also suddenly found themselves with shortages after Mr Musk's agency cut around $1bn in Department of Agriculture local food grants. International impact Cuts made by DOGE have had ripples across the world. Sky News has spent months speaking to international organisations that had their USAID funding cut. We reported on the impact cuts were having on the war in Ukraine in March. By country, Ukraine received the most funding from USAID - $5.41bn in 2024. Jordan received the second-most, at $1.24bn. Myriam Abrod-Hugon leads the Middle East division of the global disability charity Humanity and Inclusion. The charity lost funding for 37 projects globally during the DOGE cuts. "We had a person who is a Syrian refugee who's been Jordan for a while now, getting his measurements to get his prosthesis," she told Sky News. "You have a person who has the hope to be able to walk again. And suddenly you say, yeah, sorry, we cannot deliver." Multiple charities and aid groups who received funding from USAID were also left confused when a questionnaire landed in their inbox. It asked them how their project benefitted American interests, including questions like "Can you confirm that this is no DEI project or DEI elements of the project? [sic]" or "Can you confirm that your organization does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs?" Sky News asked the State Department what steps were taken to attempt to minimize the impact on vulnerable people across the world through cancelling USAID contracts, but they did not respond. Musk's government legacy There are instances where DOGE's actions have been undeniable successes. The way government employees retire, for example, has been streamlined. Previously, retirements were processed by hand in a limestone mine 230ft underground. Hundreds of staff at the Office for Personnel Management (OPM) spent their days sifting through stacks of paper recording employees' work histories. As of 2 June 2025, all retirements will be processed on a new online portal developed by DOGE, expediting a process that previously took months. "This is a transformative step that honours the service of federal employees by offering them a retirement process worthy of the 21st century," said OPM Acting Director Chuck Ezell. And many Americans also believe DOGE's work has been essential and that the losses have been an unfortunate collateral of fixing government. Chris Gergen, a conservative political strategist and founder of Dark Horse Political, sees DOGE and Mr Musk's efforts as a long-needed response to tackling rampant corruption in America's political system. "The idea of efficiency and being efficient is something that in American politics, we have talked a lot about since I've been alive and I'm almost 50," he told Sky News. "Now that Elon Musk has actually come in at the direction of President Trump to actually do these things, the people that are crying about it are the ones that are most affected by it" Nevertheless, many critics have been concerned that the cuts have been counterproductive - making government more inefficient, inaccessible, and less democratic. "It's most like an asset-stripping operation, like a private equity firm buying up a failing business, selling everything they can and then seeking to flip it," says Prof Slobodian. "The problem is there's no one that the state can be sold to at the end. Once you've stripped out all of the functioning parts of the government, you're left with a non-functioning government." While the long-term impact of DOGE's changes are yet to be fully determined, Mr Musk admitted earlier this month that the agency had not been "as effective as I'd like", claiming an "entrenched set of interests" had blocked further reform. Although he is leaving government, he clearly hopes his legacy will endure. "This is not the end of DOGE, this is really the beginning." Mr Musk promised at his farewell press conference in the Oval Office. For Alex Saint, that statement rings true. There is "definitely a lot of animosity aimed at him", she said. But ultimately she sees him as a "figurehead". "People don't believe it's going to stop with him."
Sky News
7 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
How Elon Musk's mission to cut government spending fell flat As the world's richest man exits his official role, he leaves a fractured bureaucracy, legal battles and his vision unfulfilled Kaitlin Tosh, digital investigations journalist & Kate Schneider, data journalist
In February, President Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a brand new agency tasked with overhauling the US government. In 2024, the US government spent $7.57tn across hundreds of agencies. DOGE was asked to cut this spending. Originally, Mr Musk wanted to cut $2tn. By January, he dialled back his ambitions to $1tn. More recently, he said DOGE would save just $150bn by the end of the 2026 financial year. And yet overall government spending hasn't decreased. During Trump's presidency so far, the administration has spent $190bn more than the same period last year. As Mr Musk exits government, Sky News' Data and Forensics team takes a closer look at what DOGE promised, what's been delivered, and who's been hit hardest by its changes. On 1 April, Washington DC resident Alex Saint woke up to an unexpected email in her inbox. "Your duties have been identified as either unnecessary or virtually identical to duties being performed elsewhere in the agency," it read. "You will be separated from the Federal service effective June 2, 2025." It wasn't an April Fools' joke. Alex and most of her team of communications specialists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been cut by DOGE. Her team answered more than 40,000 phone calls last year – 70% of which came from the public to ask questions about medications, she said. Now, "there's no way to get those answers to the public", Alex said. "I am very concerned that Americans are going to get hurt or potentially killed by all of the delays that DOGE has caused." Listen to Alex's story: In reply to Sky News' request for comment, the FDA said it remains "committed to applying gold standard science to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs and vaccines for the American people". "The agency fully adheres to all applicable laws and regulations, and all drug safety recalls, testing, and investigations have continued," the statement added. The origins of DOGE When Donald Trump established DOGE via executive order in late January, to many Americans it seemed just the solution to a problem they'd been pointing to for years. Two-thirds of Americans think there is considerable waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending, according to the Cato Institute. And they have good reason to – the US Government Accountability Office estimates about $2.8tn has been lost since 2003 to improper payments, including duplicates and fraud. So far, DOGE has slashed billions of dollars' worth of programmes, contracts and grants and cut tens of thousands of jobs. Mr Musk has proudly boasted that he has taken a chainsaw to the federal government. But despite his efforts, overall spending is up. And a Republican bill championed by Mr Trump, which commits trillions for tax breaks, could see further increases to the government's debt. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly," he told CBS Sunday Morning early this week, adding it "undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing". The tone was much cheerier at a farewell press conference in the Oval Office on Friday. "I think the DOGE team is doing an incredible job," Mr Musk said after accepting a ceremonial key from the president. "They're going to continue to be doing an incredible job." Pic: AP The spending cuts The first agency to feel the full force of Mr Musk's metaphorical chainsaw was the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Delivering aid and development assistance around the world, the department was an obvious target for Mr Trump. In February, he described it as an "incompetent and really corrupt" agency run by "radical lunatics". Although USAID was worth less than 1% of federal spending, DOGE cut thousands of its contracts in the first few weeks, claiming savings of $12bn. As the weeks went on and cuts to foreign assistance and "diversity, equity and inclusion" (DEI) programmes failed to match the billionaire's ambitions, Mr Musk turned towards other targets such as the Department of Defense. How DOGE's contract cancellations have changed over time In February and March, USAID became DOGE's primary target for contract cancellations. It also made some of the largest cuts to the US Treasury and the Department of the Interior. Smaller cuts were made to the departments of Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. In April, it turned towards the Department of Defense. ◀Previous Next▶ Glaring inaccuracies As of 15 May, DOGE was claiming a total of $170bn saved. But Sky News analysis shows there are many reasons to question this figure. 1. The total savings aren't verifiable Mr Musk has repeatedly promised DOGE would operate with " maximum transparency" by posting receipts from cuts on its website. But only $70.9bn of the claimed $170bn in savings are listed. And only $41.2bn of those cuts have any documentation attached for verification. 2. The purported savings don't always match other government sources Of the listings that have documentation attached, some of the numbers don't add up. Take the cancelling of a contract between Accenture Federal Services LLC, a government operations consulting firm, and the US Treasury. DOGE claims it will save the government $167.2m. When we checked the details of the contract on the US government's procurement website, the savings we calculated were smaller. The total amount the government could possibly spend under the terms of the agreement - the contract cap - was $197.2m. The US Treasury had already spent $78.2m. The difference between those numbers, or the total savings by cancelling it, is only $119m - $48m less than DOGE claimed. 3. Some cuts occurred before DOGE was created Take the sale of this US Forest Service building in Ogden, Utah, for example. Despite a DOGE tweet implying that its $3.4m sale was a result of their efforts, the acquisition of the historic building by the local government was already being arranged in December. Sky News asked the White House for an explanation for the accounting errors on the DOGE website, as well as whether they believed DOGE wrongly claimed credit for the sale of the US Forest Service building, but they did not respond. Watch the full story below: Unprecedented layoffs DOGE has managed to create sizeable cracks in the foundation of the US government by firing an unprecedented number of people. Over 60,000 government employees have been laid off. More than 110,000 people have also left through a deferred resignation programme DOGE launched, according to Roger Lee, an independent researcher who has been tracking media reports of government layoffs. Mass layoffs are part of Mr Musk's business playbook – after buying Twitter in 2022 he fired 80% of the workforce. But it doesn't work to treat the government like a company, says Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University. In business, Mr Musk has been "laser focused on efficiency, streamlining, getting rid of useless parts, getting rid of what he sees as useless employees, and then still producing the product at the end", said Prof Slobodian. "The problem with the federal government is it doesn't just produce one thing." "To think that you can use the same approaches of streamlining that you use in a firm and scale it up to the level of the entire state is extraordinarily reckless." The largest exodus has been from the US Treasury, which has lost more than 29,000 employees. Almost all of those workers were at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the government tax authority. Analysis from the Budget Lab at Yale University suggests the job losses will cost more than they will save. While eliminating 22,000 positions is projected to save the IRS $1.8bn in 2026, the resulting loss in tax revenue is estimated at $10.3bn. In other words, having significantly fewer employees means it is likely less tax will be collected. After 20 years as a civil servant, Sylvie Williams was recently informed she'd be losing her job at the IRS. At the taxpayer experience office, she worked to make filing taxes – a notoriously complicated process in the US – easier for the average citizen. "Is there waste? Definitely. Can there be efficiencies? Yes. Can we move faster? Yes," she admits. "But it wasn't done correctly." "What we're doing now is scaring young people coming out of universities from ever applying to government." Sylvie Williams, former employee at the Internal Revenue Service Nearly 2% of the US workforce is employed by the federal government. Combined with their families, this represents a significant portion of the American population affected by DOGE layoffs. Sky News has seen some of these employees' dismissal letters, known as Reduction in Force (RIF) notices. They make it difficult for staff to dispute being fired. One gives the email for an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) officer to get in touch with to file a complaint. But the EEO officer listed stopped working for the federal government before the RIF notice was sent, according to their LinkedIn profile. Another outlined how usual redundancy practices were no longer required after an executive order, signed by Mr Trump in March, waived collective bargaining rights for many government employees, citing "national security requirements and considerations". There are currently multiple ongoing legal battles against these mass layoffs, with several focused on disputing that executive order. Because of the legal challenges, Alex has been told she may have her job reinstated. Already, a few of her colleagues at the FDA have returned to work, she says. The other human costs Many other Americans have felt the impact of these cuts. Across the country, medical research trials and treatment programs have been axed by DOGE. In California and Florida, for example, research into HIV treatment was cut. In states such as Mississippi and Oklahoma, funding for substance abuse treatment programs was axed – even as Mr Trump declared tackling fentanyl overdoses a priority. And cuts to vaccination programmes are already being felt. Funding was cut for measles immunisation efforts across Texas in April, which some worry has worsened a measles outbreak across the state. But there's no evidence to support this yet. School nutrition programmes and food banks around the country have also suddenly found themselves with shortages after Mr Musk's agency cut around $1bn in Department of Agriculture local food grants. International impact Cuts made by DOGE have had ripples across the world. Sky News has spent months speaking to international organisations that had their USAID funding cut. We reported on the impact cuts were having on the war in Ukraine in March. By country, Ukraine received the most funding from USAID - $5.41bn in 2024. Jordan received the second-most, at $1.24bn. Myriam Abrod-Hugon leads the Middle East division of the global disability charity Humanity and Inclusion. The charity lost funding for 37 projects globally during the DOGE cuts. "You have a person who has the hope to be able to walk again. And suddenly you say, yeah, sorry, we cannot deliver." Myriam Abrod-Hugon, Regional Director at Humanity & Inclusion Multiple charities and aid groups that received funding from USAID were also left confused when a questionnaire landed in their inbox. It asked them how their project benefitted American interests, including questions like "Can you confirm that this is no DEI project or DEI elements of the project? [sic]" and "Can you confirm that your organization does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs?". Sky News asked the State Department what steps were taken to attempt to minimise the impact on vulnerable people across the world through cancelling USAID contracts, but they did not respond. Musk's government legacy There are instances where DOGE's actions have been undeniable successes. The way government employees retire, for example, has been streamlined. Previously, retirements were processed by hand in a limestone mine 230ft underground. Hundreds of staff at the Office for Personnel Management (OPM) spent their days sifting through stacks of paper recording employees' work histories. As of 2 June 2025, all retirements will be processed on a new online portal developed by DOGE, expediting a process that previously took months. "This is a transformative step that honours the service of federal employees by offering them a retirement process worthy of the 21st century," said OPM Acting Director Chuck Ezell. Pic: Paul Rigney / NBC News And many Americans also believe DOGE's work has been essential and that the losses have been an unfortunate collateral of fixing government. Chris Gergen, a conservative political strategist and founder of Dark Horse Political, sees DOGE and Mr Musk's efforts as a long-needed response to tackling rampant corruption in America's political system. "The idea of efficiency and being efficient is something that, in American politics, we have talked a lot about since I've been alive and I'm almost 50." Chris Gergen, founder of Dark Horse Political Nevertheless, many critics have been concerned that the cuts have been counterproductive – making government more inefficient, inaccessible, and less democratic. "It's most like an asset-stripping operation, like a private equity firm buying up a failing business, selling everything they can and then seeking to flip it," says Prof Slobodian. "The problem is there's no one that the state can be sold to at the end. Once you've stripped out all of the functioning parts of the government, you're left with a non-functioning government." While the long-term impact of DOGE's changes are yet to be fully determined, Mr Musk admitted earlier this month that the agency had not been "as effective as I'd like", claiming an "entrenched set of interests" had blocked further reform. Although he is leaving government, he clearly hopes his legacy will endure. "This is not the end of DOGE, this is really the beginning," Mr Musk promised at his farewell press conference in the Oval Office. For Alex Saint, that statement rings true. There is "definitely a lot of animosity aimed at him", she said. But ultimately she sees him as a "figurehead". "People don't believe it's going to stop with him." Credits Reporting: Kaitlin Tosh & Kate Schneider Video editing: Kaitlin Tosh Shorthand development: Kate Schneider Producers: Michelle Inez Simon & Reece Denton Editors: Chris Howard, Isla Glaister, & Natasha Muktarsingh Graphics: Joe Jackson, Luan Leer, James Packer, Stephen Whistance, & Anisa Momen Top Built with Shorthand
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE is entering a new phase. It's going to be way harder than the first.
With Elon Musk leaving the Trump administration, DOGE is entering a new phase. Now, it's going to be up to Congress to pass bills to codify spending cuts into law. It's not going to be easy. For the first several months of President Donald Trump's second term, DOGE seemed like an unstoppable force. Now, political gravity is about to kick in. Though he says he'll still be in Washington here and there, Elon Musk is ending his time as an official White House employee. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is preparing to formally ask Congress to begin codifying some of the cuts DOGE has already made — a process that's far from certain to succeed. It all amounts to a new phase for DOGE, one where the swift and disruptive action of Trump's first few months will give way to the delays, gridlock, and possibility of failure that come with trying to pass bills through Congress. "The DOGE team has done incredible work," Musk said during a recent appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum. "But the magnitude of the savings is proportionate to the support we get from Congress and from the executive branch of the government in general." The first task for Republicans is passing $9.4 billion in cuts that the White House plans to send to Congress on Tuesday. That so-called "rescission" package, which rescinds funding previously approved by the legislative branch, includes $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the government-backed entity that funds NPR and PBS. Symbolically, it's a big deal. Republicans have been clamoring to cut federal funding to NPR and PBS for months, and the House DOGE subcommittee held a hearing on the issue in March. There's also been growing frustration on the right that DOGE cuts haven't come sooner, with some lawmakers arguing that they should be regularly voting to codify spending cuts. "We should have been voting on DOGE cuts every single week," Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on X on Monday. Numerically, however, the $9.4 billion package is minuscule. It's less than half of one percent of the $2 trillion that Musk once envisioned cutting, and it's only about 6% of the $160 billion that Musk says DOGE has cut already. And despite GOP control of both the House and the Senate, it's not guaranteed to pass. All it would take is a handful of Republicans to derail the effort, and when Trump tried to pass a $15 billion recession package in his first term, it failed in the Senate. There's already at least one GOP senator who's likely to vote against it: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who recently wrote an op-ed opposing cuts to public broadcasting funding. A White House official told BI that the $9.4 billion in cuts — only the second time a president has sent a rescission package to Congress since 2000 — is an indication of the administration's commitment to following through on DOGE's work. The official also expressed optimism that the package would pass and that more rescissions would come in the future. While there may be more rescissions down the line, much of the DOGE cuts are likely to be made in the coming government funding process, which Congress will have to wrap up before funding runs out at the end of September. House Speaker Mike Johnson said as much in a post on X on Wednesday, adding that the House is "eager and ready to act on DOGE's findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government." That will be even harder than passing stand-alone DOGE cuts. While rescission packages only require a simple majority in both chambers to pass, government funding is generally a bipartisan process — one that Democrats have the power to block entirely in the Senate via the 60-vote filibuster rule. Democrats let a government funding bill pass the Senate in March despite their misgivings about DOGE at the time. That led to intense backlash from the Democratic base, which has helped fuel primary challenges and calls for generational change. It's unclear that enough Democrats will be willing to do the same thing again in September. Meanwhile, Republicans are making their own job harder with their "Big Beautiful Bill," a sprawling piece of legislation that, in its current form, would increase the deficit by trillions of dollars over the next decade. Musk made his dissatisfaction with that bill clear in a recent interview, saying it "undermines" the work that DOGE has been doing by increasing the deficit and debt. "I think a bill can be big, or it could be beautiful," Musk said. 'I don't know if it could be both." Read the original article on Business Insider
BBC News
21 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Trump says Elon Musk 'not really leaving' in Oval Office farewell
Elon Musk's time in the Trump administration has come to an end with a news conference in the Oval Office in which he and the US president defended the work of Doge - and vowed it would continue, even without Musk. According to President Trump, Musk is "not really leaving" and will continue to be "back and forth" to the White House. "It's his baby," Trump said of Musk's work with Doge, short for the cost-cutting Department of Government departure comes 130 days after Trump returned to office, the maximum allowable through his status as a "special government employee". Doge - which is an advisory body, rather than a formal government department - has the stated aim of slashing government spending, saving taxpayer money and reducing the US national debt, which stands at $36tn (£28.9tn).Musk's work with Doge, however, has come with considerable controversy, particularly after mass lay-offs across federal agencies and the elimination of most programmes run by USAID, the main US foreign aid organisation. It also led to Musk's companies coming under scrutiny, with global protests against Tesla and calls for boycotts. In turn, the company saw sales plummet to their lowest level in years. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump praised Musk, who he credited with "tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform programme in generations". It's Musk's last day - what has he achieved at the White House?Trump added that the "mindsets" of federal officials have changed as a result of Doge's work to detect fraud and "slash waste". According to Doge's website, it had saved the US government a total of $175bn as of 29 May. A BBC analysis conducted in late April, however, found that only $61.5bn of that amount was itemised, and evidence of how the savings were achieved was available about $32.5bn of the total. "He's not really leaving," Trump said of Musk. "He's going to be back and forth...I think he's going to be doing a lot of things."Musk, for his part, insisted that Doge will continue to "relentlessly" seek $1 trillion in reductions. The meeting between the two men comes just days after an interview with CBS - the BBC's US partner - in which Musk said he was "disappointed" in what Trump has referred to as his "big, beautiful" bill, which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a pledge to increase defence spending. While Musk had previously said he believes that the bill "undermines" the work of Doge, he did not comment on it during the Oval Office meeting. Trump, though, delivered a lengthy defence of the "unbelievable" legislation that "does amazing things". "But there are two things I'd like to see," Trump said. "Maybe cut a little bit more. I'd like to see a bigger cut in taxes." The news conference also took several turns, including questions on why Musk appeared to have a bruised eye. "I wasn't anywhere near France," Musk replied, a reference to a recent incident between French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigette. Musk said his injury by saying he had told his son, X Æ A-12 - known as X - to punch him. "Turns out even a five-year-old-punching you in the fact actually does - that was X," he Musk was asked about a New York Times report this week that suggested he was using drugs heavily during Trump's 2024 campaign. He responded by citing a recent judge's decision that Trump can proceed with a defamation case against the Washington Post and New York Times for their reporting on alleged connections between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia."That New York Times?" Musk asked. "Let's move on."
Fox News
a day ago
- Business
- Fox News
'American hero' or 'failure': Elon Musk's DOGE departure divides Capitol Hill
Emotions are running high on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill as Elon Musk makes his way for the exit. Musk is stepping back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which President Donald Trump appointed the tech billionaire to run for the first 130 days of his new administration. He's been a polarizing figure in Washington, and that has extended to his announcement earlier this week that he's returning to the private sector. Republicans cheered Musk's work, while Democrats celebrated the end of it. "Exposing reckless, wasteful government spending isn't about one individual—it's about a lasting overhaul of Crazy Town," House DOGE Caucus Chair Aaron Bean, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. "That's why we're working closely with the White House to ensure recession packages reflect DOGE's critical findings." And the White House has begun that work already, preparing a $9.4 billion package of spending cuts that's expected to hit Congress on Tuesday. But Bean's comments imply Republicans are going to seek more. It was a sentiment that appeared to be shared by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who said that Musk "did a lot of what he came to do." "A lot of the savings that he identified are things hopefully that we'll be able to incorporate into bills that Congress passes. The work that he did was really important. It's long overdue," Thune said. Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she was "honored" to work with Musk but signaled he should not be needed for lawmakers to cut government waste. "It has been wonderful having a willing partner in my decade-long work to make Washington squeal, but I was DOGE before DOGE was cool, and I'm not slowing down," Ernst told Fox News Digital in a statement. Other Republicans were more lavish in their praise, like Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., who hailed Musk as an "American hero." "I'm absolutely sad to see him go," Haridopolos told Fox News Digital. "He has given up a lot of time and wealth in order to bring the fiscal house of the United States in order, and he has done a great service to our country by bringing a heck of a lot more transparency of how we're spending money." And Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., compared the billionaire to the nation's revered first leaders. "He's kind of half Benjamin Franklin and half Thomas Jefferson. He had the inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin and the vision of a Thomas Jefferson, and I just remember all of our founding fathers were patriots, and they left their regular jobs. They gave up everything to come help found this country. And that's what Elon's [done]," Marshall told Fox News Digital. On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., pointed out that as much as Republicans lauded Musk, he also dealt a blow to the House GOP earlier this week by criticizing their "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill. "They brought Musk to DC to fight the deficit, and he left DC calling out how the reconciliation bill will blow the biggest hole in the deficit ever – adding more than $3 trillion in debt," Suozzi told Fox News Digital. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital he believed DOGE's efforts were misplaced in the end. "Initially, I said we should work with Musk to find common ground where there is real waste — like defense contractors, Medicare Advantage overpayments, and prescription drugs. It is sad that DOGE faced opposition in focusing on those issues, and that agencies like USAID and NIH are being dismantled," Khanna said. Others on the left unleashed on Musk directly. Democrats have held up the Tesla CEO as a boogeyman since he began campaigning for Trump, using him as a living example of the wealthy, out-of-touch people they believed the Republican White House was benefitting. "Elon came to Washington thinking he could run the government like one of his companies—firing people left and right, gutting essential services, and tearing this s--t up from the ground up," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, wrote on X, calling for an investigation into Musk's work. House Progressive Caucus Chairman Greg Casar, D-Texas, meanwhile, took credit for Musk leaving despite his fixed tenure. "Musk's exit is an enormous victory for Democrats and working people. This is a sign of how powerful the anti-corruption, anti-billionaire movement in American politics can be," Casar said in a statement. "Musk did not choose to leave because Elon Musk likes to follow the rules. Musk will leave because the American people built enough political pressure that he had no choice." And Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, wrote on X, "Musk failed others and served himself." "But there's an irony in his failure: in his quest to destroy government, he reminded us why it matters. To look out for hungry kids, to keep planes safe, to deliver Social Security checks, and to do the quiet work to serve the common good," Booker said. When reached for comment on this story, White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital, "DOGE is integral to the federal government's operations, and its mission, as established by the President's executive order, will continue under the direction of agency and department heads in the Trump administration. DOGE has delivered remarkable results at an unprecedented pace, and its work is far from complete." Fox News Digital also reached out to Tesla for comment from Musk. Trump, for his part, heaped praise on Musk at a joint press conference on Friday. "Elon's service to America has been without comparison in modern history. He's already running one of the most innovative car companies in the world, if you look at his factories and compare them with some of the old factories we have, and it's a big difference. And the most successful space company, I guess in history, you would have to say. The largest free speech platform on the internet," Trump said. "Yet, Elon, willingly, with all of the success, he willingly accepted the outrageous abuse and slander and lies and attacks because he does love our country."
