How much does Dog Eleon Musk cut off from the US government’s spending?

ELON Musk (DOGE) – Created to reduce government spending – claims that, on average, it has saved more than $ 10 billion a week since President Trump entered his post.

“We are talking about nearly 200 billion dollars and raised quickly,” Trump told the BBC when he talks about Mr. Musk’s campaign on April 23.

Doge on the Internet says it focuses on canceling contracts, grants and contracts set by previous departments, as well as handling fraud and reducing government workforce.

BBC Veirify looked at the agency’s largest savings claiming to the agency, examining numbers and speaking to experts.

Our analysis found it behind some big numbers, there is a lack of evidence to support them.

In October, Mr. Musk pledged to reduce “at least $ 2 trillion” from the federal government budget. After that, the half of this goal rose, and on April 10 he talked about $ 150 billion savings of “fraud and waste” by the end of the next fiscal year in 2026.

The American federal budget for the last financial year was 6.75 Treen.

DOGE publishes a total of its estimated savings on its website – which stood in 160 billion dollars the last time the site was updated on April 20.

However, less than 40 % of this number is divided into individual savings.

We downloaded the data from the DOGE website on April 23 and added the total demand savings of contracts, grants and rents.

Our analysis only found about half of these detailed savings link for a document or any other form of evidence.

The American media has also highlighted some accounting errors, including Doug, which mistakenly provided $ 8 billion in canceling the immigration contract that In fact, it was a total value of $ 8 million.

Dog says that he is working to download all receipts in a “digestible and transparent” way, and as of April 20, receipts were published “about 30 % of the total savings.” It also lists some receipts as “not available for legal reasons.”

BBC checks the four largest savings on the Doge site, which contains connected receipts.

The administration claims that this adds up to $ 8.3 billion, but after examining the evidence provided and speaking to people familiar with federal contracts, this number appears to be exaggerated.

For three savings, Doug reaches documents in the federal purchasing data system (FPDS). This is a database recorded by the contracts provided by the US government.

The documents show the date of the start of the contract and the end, and the maximum amount that the government agreed to on its spending, and the amount of that.

David Drabkin, an expert in federal contracts who helped develop the FPDS database, said the maximum limit included should be treated with caution.

“FPDS does not reflect the actual price paid until a period of time after the contract was completed and the contract procedures were registered,” he says.

“For example, when buying research and development in a vaccine, no one really knows the amount of cost – so when the price is set, it is not a specific price but a higher limit.”

So, if Doge calculates the maximum number, expected spending can be represented for several years, instead of direct saving from annual spending in the country.

The largest individual savings listed in Dog is $ 2.9 billion.

It comes from canceling a contract – Which started in 2023 under the leadership of President Biden – For a facility in Texas to house up to 3000 unaccompanied immigrant children.

Doug seems to have taken the “total contract value” until 2028 – the date of the completion of the listed – and the amount that has been spent so far to obtain a number $ 2.9 billion.

But the contract was reviewed annually, which means that its renewal until 2028 was not guaranteed.

He told a source familiar with this contract – which occurs, provided that his identity is not disclosed – that the BBC verifies that Duji’s character “is based on speculation numbers that are never used” and that actual spending depends on the number of children who were placed in the facility and the services they need.

“In fact, the government has never incurred these costs and was unable to reach this roof amount. The real documentable savings of early termination were about 153 million dollars.”

They say this number comes from collecting fixed operating costs of $ 18 million per month (for things such as employment and security in the facility) from February – when Dog announced the reduction – to November – when the contract was subject to annual review.

They also told us that the site – which was closed on the same day that the DOGE Declaration – did not reach the maximum capacity of 3000 children, and about 2000 remained in the Texas facility at its peak, before the numbers decreased significantly with the decline in the border crossings.

We contacted the administration of children, families, the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services that granted the contract, but have not yet heard.

The second largest run -up to DOGE comes from the cancellation of a contract between the IRS and the IT company called Centennial Technologies, which claims to be worth $ 1.9 billion.

Document DOGE links have a total contract value of $ 1.9 billion and all other cost fields, including the amount that has already been spent, for $ 0.

However, Mr. Drabkin told us that this does not necessarily mean that nothing has been spent on the contract.

He said that many government departments have poor registration, which means that the amount that has been spent during some decades may not always be updated in time.

The date of the start of the contract is listed in August 2024, and it was estimated until 2031.

However, the CEO of Centennial Technologies The New York Times was told The agreement was already canceled last fall during the Biden administration.

The company did not respond to our requests for further comment.

Another information technology contract, this time with the Ministry of Defense, is the third largest claim.

Dog says that $ 1.76 billion was saved by canceling a contract with an IT company called A1FDIMPACT.

on Contract documentThe total value is listed as $ 2.4 billion. Online database for government contracts The supreme government is called He says this amount was the value of the ceiling.

Again, there is $ 0 registered for the amount spent at a time when the contract was terminated.

It is not clear where the Doug number of $ 1.76 billion comes from – we have asked the Pentagon and the supplier on this topic.

The fourth largest provision of a claim of $ 1.75 billion comes from the cancellation of the US International Development Agency grant to Gavi, a global health organization, carrying out campaigns to improve access to vaccines.

Doug links Page on Usaspending.gov. It appears that a Gavi grant was paid in three installments, during the Biden administration, with a total of $ 880 million.

Javi confirmed that $ 880 million was paid by the US Development Agency, but he said that the grant had not been told that the grant had been terminated.

“Javi did not receive a termination notice related to this grant,” a spokesman for the grant.

We did not find any evidence of the saving of $ 1.75 billion demanded by Dog, and a source familiar with the contract said it was not clear where it comes.

We asked the Office of the Acting Party Inspector the action of the grant, but he did not respond to us.

Although Doge may reduce a large amount of government spending, the lack of evidence provided to the largest savings required to make it impossible to completely confirm the independent amount.

Doge has no press office, but BBC Verify has called the White House to request more evidence of these demand savings.

Participated in additional reports from Ned Davis and Alison Benjamin.