The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency has largely disappeared from the spotlight in recent weeks, as it and its leader, Elon Musk, grew unpopular in the polls and many of its findings turned out to be less than promised.
DOGE came out swinging in the early days of Trump’s second presidency, firing thousands of federal workers and slashing congressionally appropriated funds it deemed “waste, fraud, and abuse.” With his 130-day time limit as a special government employee roughly a month away, Musk says his involvement in the project is winding down.
“Starting probably next month, May, my time obligation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Musk said. He said he would focus more of his time working at Tesla, whose profits have dropped 71% in 2025.
Musk originally said his initiative would save the U.S. $2 trillion, but later cut that figure in half, saying it would save $1 trillion. Then, he said DOGE cut $150 billion, but did not provide details.
More than 12% of the federal workforce’s 2.4 million employees have been targeted by DOGE, with over 216,000 being fired and 75,000 taking deferred resignations.
However, courts have ordered employees at multiple agencies to be rehired, ruling they were improperly fired. Because the government put them on paid leave when they were fired, taxpayers paid the bill of rehiring them, plus salaries collected while staying home and not working.
These firings have cost the government billions, nearly as much as Musk says it saved through DOGE.
According to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that studies the federal workforce, firings, rehirings, paid leave, and productivity losses are expected to cost more than $135 billion this fiscal year.
That estimate does not include the cost to taxpayers of defending DOGE’s efforts in court. Of the 200 lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, at least 30 directly target DOGE.
After Trump was elected, Musk and Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were named co-chairs of the unofficial department, but Ramaswamy left the project before Trump’s inauguration. After landing in various legal troubles over the DOGE efforts, the White House said Musk was not the leader of DOGE, but for some time, would not clarify who was.
The Washington Examiner reported that Amy Gleason, a senior adviser to the U.S. Digital Service living in Nashville, Tennessee, was the DOGE administrator. The White House later confirmed that, but still, little has been made public about her role.
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Still, Trump called Musk the leader of DOGE during his Joint Address to Congress earlier this year. This landed DOGE in more legal trouble as lawsuits against DOGE cited the president’s comments as evidence that Musk was running the agency.
As late as Tuesday, Musk also referred to himself as the head of the unofficial department. He posted a photo on X sporting a “DOGE Father” police badge.