New York Times Analysis Finds Most of DOGE's Largest Savings Claims Were Inaccurate

A New York Times review published around December 24-25, 2025 examined DOGE's largest publicized savings claims and found that 28 of the top 40 were inaccurate, including all of the 13 largest. Among the examples cited, two Defense Department contracts that DOGE claimed to have terminated for a combined $7.9 billion in savings were, in fact, still active, meaning the claimed savings never materialized.

The analysis found that despite DOGE's public claims of more than 29,000 federal cuts and elimination of billion-dollar contracts, overall federal spending did not meaningfully decline, and the initiative fell far short of Elon Musk's original goal of cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget. What DOGE reliably produced instead was disruption: agency reorganizations, workforce reductions including a more than 20 percent cut at NASA, and slower processing in various offices.

The findings reinforce a pattern of DOGE's public claims outpacing verified results, adding to earlier reporting questioning the accuracy of its self-reported savings tracker.