New York Times reporter David Fahrenthold delivered a scathing critique on Tuesday of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), systematically unraveling its claims of substantial taxpayer savings.
In an analysis shared on the social media platform Bluesky, Fahrenthold scrutinized Musk’s much-publicized “Wall of Receipts,” which details supposed financial savings achieved through significant reductions in federal government operations and workforce.
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Fahrenthold’s investigation revealed fundamental flaws in DOGE’s calculations, notably pointing out that “the largest item” in Musk’s proclaimed savings “has always been wrong.” “When the Wall of Receipts was first posted, Elon Musk’s group said its largest savings was an $8 billion cut at ICE,” Fahrenthold explained. “But that was a typo in government records. DOGE reduced the savings to $8 million, then zero.”
The errors identified by Fahrenthold did not stop there. He uncovered additional miscalculations, further undermining the credibility of DOGE’s financial claims. “Then DOGE said its largest savings had come from terminating a USAID contract worth $655 million,” Fahrenthold continued. “But they had triple-counted the same cancellation, and also greatly over-estimated what that cancellation was worth.
That savings, too, was eventually reduced to $0.” Fahrenthold highlighted another notable instance of error, which involved claims around Internal Revenue Service (IRS) spending cuts. “Next, DOGE said its largest savings came from canceling a $1.9B contract at the IRS,” Fahrenthold detailed. “But that contract had been canceled when Joe Biden was president. DOGE later deleted the claim.”
Summarizing his findings, Fahrenthold expressed deep concern over DOGE’s reliance on faulty data, cautioning about its broader implications for government efficiency and accountability. “Nobody benefits if DOGE is using bad data,” he argued. “Won’t it be harder to find real waste or fraud if their data is plagued by errors?”
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Fahrenthold’s analysis casts significant doubt on DOGE’s competence and transparency, raising broader questions about the efficacy and legitimacy of the cuts Musk’s department has championed. This controversy emerges amid intensified scrutiny over DOGE’s drastic measures, which include widespread layoffs and closures of critical government services, creating a growing public and political backlash. Critics have noted that errors of this magnitude could severely hinder genuine efforts to identify wasteful spending, undermining public trust in governmental oversight.
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