Elon Musk’s Ill-Fated DOGE Endeavor Officially Over 

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the controversial and, by some measures, ineffective initiative that was spearheaded by Elon Musk, has officially been closed. 

Politico reports that DOGE’s website went down on July 4, the day of its planned sunset. In the executive order creating the department, President Donald Trump wrote that “a smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift” for the United States on its 250th birthday. 

Did DOGE deliver on everything it promised?

DOGE, in fact, did not deliver on all its promises. 

DOGE was initially touted as being created to deliver $2 trillion in taxpayer savings. While the White House hasn’t published official final numbers, the reality has fallen far short of that, with the last accounting by DOGE claiming that the department has saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, through its cuts. 

Elizabeth Linos, a Harvard Kennedy School public policy and management professor, told Politico that she believes DOGE did more long-term damage than good. “DOGE told the American people that they can’t trust government to protect their data, to use their data and technology for good,” Linos said. “That has really long-lasting effects on our ability to rebuild trust in government or even convince the next generation of talent to enter government to begin with.”

You’d be forgiven for thinking DOGE had already closed, given that everyone initially involved with the department has long since moved on to other things. Trump initially appointed Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the agency. Ramaswamy left almost immediately and is currently running for governor of Ohio. Musk left the department last May after regularly butting heads with the Trump administration. After Musk’s departure, the department effectively went radio silent. 

So what did DOGE do while it was in action? 

The mass layoffs in the federal government significantly contributed to the unemployment rate. Not to mention that several agencies have had to rehire cut positions due to the loss of essential expertise. Experts have said that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda has been exacerbated by the closure of USAID. DOGE cut funding for a program monitoring New World screwworm outbreaks, and wouldn’t you know it, Texas is experiencing its first screwworm outbreak in decades. 

The fact of the matter is that we may never know, good or bad, the full impact of DOGE’s actions. WTOP reports that the Office of Management and Budget Director, Russ Vought, appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Financial Services last month and was asked if there would be an official closing report for DOGE. 

“Is there something that you’re going to present, or is there somewhere we can find what exactly DOGE accomplished as far as reductions in dollars spent, people at agencies, or whatever? Is there going to be some documentation of what took place?” Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) asked.

Vought replied that there were no plans to issue a final report. The Trump administration has both defended DOGE’s actions and stopped short of announcing any type of follow-up effort. 

“President Trump was given a clear mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Politico. “He has made significant progress in making the federal government more efficient to better serve the American taxpayer.”

Linos doesn’t exactly agree with that assessment, saying the DOGE cuts have made the federal government more inefficient. “If anything, wait times are going up, and people are not getting the level of safety that they would expect from their government,” Linos told Politico. “My sense is that we won’t see an obvious DOGE 2.0 emerging in July.”

SEE ALSO:

Judge Finds DOGE Grant Cuts Were Discriminatory And Unconstitutional

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Elon Musk’s Ill-Fated DOGE Endeavor Officially Over  was originally published on newsone.com