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Following Elon Musk’s “wall of receipts” claim to save the US national government$ 55 billion, staff reductions, rent cancellations, and a list of terminated contracts, were reported as accounting errors, inappropriate finance assumptions, and outdated information.
The savings listed on the website are difficult to verify, according to a statement from the New York Times, and the mathematics behind the reported cuts frequently doesn’t account for more cancellation costs or the actual effect of delayed contracts.
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The review found problems such as double- or triple-counted deals, inflated numbers, and errors in listing canceled deals, some of which were basically ended during the Biden administration.
Some contracts, such as one for environmental research in Michigan, were inaccurately listed as canceled. David Reid, an environmental scientist, said”, That contract wasn’t canceled by DOGE or anyone else. If they took credit for canceling the contract, they’re lying.”
Many of the canceled contracts are linked to the administration’s priorities, including cutting programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion, with some affecting businesses run by women and minorities. The mistakes suggest that Musk’s team, which is tasked with reducing government spending, may not fully understand the complexities of government contracting, New York Times reported.
Experts in federal contracting expressed skepticism about the effort’s accuracy. Amber Hart, co-founder of the Pulse research firm, said”, There’s no way for them to make it possible unless they completely overhaul the way the data is reported.”
The website lists 1, 125 contracts accounting for about 20 % of the reported savings, but Musk’s team has provided no data to verify the remaining savings, such as workforce reductions. Although the dollar values for each contract are derived from a central government contract tracking system, some estimates seem exaggerated high. For instance, a Department of Homeland Security contract’s claimed$ 5.4 million savings may be exaggerated because outdated data and failure to account for termination costs are factors.
Another issue involves umbrella contracts, where the government sets a maximum potential value, but the ceiling doesn’t represent actual spending.
” It’s not real money,” Kelly Saldana, a former USAID official, told The New York Times explaining that unspent funds in umbrella contracts don’t equate to savings.
In some contracts, errors were also made, such as those for technical support services at ICE, where an ICE value of$ 8 billion was incorrectly entered rather than$ 8 million, causing a 50 % increase in the cost. Additionally, hundreds of contracts are included on the “wall of receipts,” which show no real savings. For instance, a contract with the SEC is said to have no savings despite expiring in March 2024.
DOGE has a target of$ 2 trillion in savings and the Elon Musk-led department, as on Monday, already achieved$ 55 billion. DOGE is pursuing cuts to government departments, fraud, and government employees, which is a major critic of DOGE for suggesting the removal of the Department of Education and the US Agency for International Development ( USAID), which provides funding to war-torn nations. Trump praised the department and Elon Musk’s” smart” work, rejecting any potential conflicts of interest.
The taxpayers are proposing to receive a$ 5, 000 refund from the money Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wants to save by the 2026 deadline. James Fishback, the CEO of an investment company and an outside advisor to DOGE, has been circulating the proposal on X. Elon Musk responded to the suggestion, saying he would check it with President Donald Trump.
