A congressional watchdog has found that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) overstated its savings by billions of dollars, with most claims lacking verifiable evidence.
Government watchdog finds DOGE savings claims unverifiable
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on August 7, 2026, stating that $110 billion in savings DOGE claimed from terminating federal contracts, leases, and grants were either incorrect or unsupported by evidence. The GAO audit, requested by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Gary Peters, examined DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” database, which listed alleged savings from January 20, 2025, to July 7, 2026.
GAO identifies major discrepancies in DOGE’s methodology
The watchdog found that 2,500 contracts listed as terminated—totaling $27.4 billion in claimed savings—had not actually been canceled. Additionally, 96% of DOGE’s grant savings lacked sufficient documentation to verify the methodology used. The GAO also noted that 108 of 264 leases DOGE claimed to have terminated were already in the process of being canceled before DOGE was established.
Key examples of unverified savings
- DOGE reported $1.7 billion in savings from a Pentagon Defense Health Agency IT contract, but no action was taken to terminate or reduce funding.
- $15.3 million in lease savings were attributed to contracts already slated for termination before DOGE’s creation.
- The GAO could not confirm the methodology behind $110 billion in total claimed savings, calling into question the reliability of DOGE’s reporting.
DOGE’s origins and shutdown
DOGE was launched in February 2025 under President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut federal spending. Elon Musk, who initially led the initiative, stepped back in April 2025, and DOGE was fully shut down by July 2025. The agency had laid off thousands of federal employees and shuttered entire departments.
Political reactions to the GAO report
Senator Gary Peters stated, “Everyone supports rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, but DOGE was a slapdash and deceptive effort that misled the American people while doing real damage to the government’s ability to serve them.”
The GAO’s findings raise questions about the transparency and accountability of DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, which were widely publicized during its operation.