Doge overstated claims to have saved Americans $110bn, watchdog finds

Some estimates made by Doge, the body charged with reducing US government spending, that it saved billions of dollars are "incorrect or lack supporting evidence", a watchdog has found. A report released on Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has given an extensive review of Doge's claims about its so-called "Wall of Receipts", which reported savings of $110bn (£82bn) across contracts, grants and leases."Several issues limit the transparency and reliability of these reported savings," the report stated.Asked for comment, a White House official said the administration told the GAO that all employees had to complete ethics training and follow financial disclosure requirements.Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, was not an official government department. It launched at the start of President Trump's second term but closed last month. Its Wall of Receipts was a way of showing its purported savings in taxpayer money online. Elon Musk, the billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX who formerly led Doge but left in May 2025, initially promised to save as much as $2tn a year by slashing federal jobs and shuttering government programmes, among other cost-cutting measures. Even by Doge's own estimates, it fell short of that goal, as its website claims to have saved an estimated $214bn."While Doge provided some information about estimated savings, several issues limit the transparency and reliability of these reported savings," the GAO report stated.