DOGE Claimed It Saved $8 Billion By Cancelling A Contract, It Was Actually $8 Million

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently made headlines after claiming it saved taxpayers $55 billion by canceling government contracts. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals potential discrepancies, particularly an $8 billion savings claim from canceling a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract actually worth only $8 million.

A CNN review found that DOGE’s reported savings largely stem from inflated figures based on the maximum possible spending limits of “indefinite delivery” contracts. These contracts set an upper spending limit but do not guarantee full expenditure. The ICE contract in question, signed in 2022, was initially misreported in the Federal Procurement Data System with an $8 billion ceiling, roughly ICE’s entire annual budget. However, the actual contract value was only $8 million, a clerical error later corrected.

The ICE contract was canceled in January following an executive order by President Donald Trump. While only $2.5 million had been spent, DOGE still claimed $8 billion in savings, an assertion former federal contracting official Joe Jordan called “completely disingenuous.” He criticized DOGE for presenting out-of-context data to exaggerate cost-cutting achievements.

This issue extends beyond ICE. DOGE also claimed nearly $2 billion in savings from canceling three U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts that had only spent a fraction of their maximum allocation. Furthermore, it listed $11 million in savings from canceling Politico subscriptions.

Despite Musk’s assertions of “maximally transparent” practices, these discrepancies suggest otherwise. While DOGE later updated the ICE figure to $8 million, its overall $55 billion savings claim remains unadjusted, raising questions about the accuracy of its “Wall of Receipts.”