Elon Musk’s DOGE made big errors in claims of government savings, GAO finds
The audit said $110 billion in claimed contract, grant and lease savings could not be verified and found one user had elevated Treasury system access.
- On Thursday, a Government Accountability Office audit revealed the Department of Government Efficiency consistently overstated savings and granted unauthorized create, modify, and delete access to a Treasury Department payment system in January 2025.
- DOGE's 'Wall of Receipts' claimed $215 billion in savings, yet the GAO could not verify nearly $35 billion in contract cuts and found 108 leases were already being terminated before the group existed.
- Auditors identified a January 2025 incident where an employee gained temporary permissions to create, modify, and delete information within the Treasury payment system, which processes trillions and stores sensitive Social Security numbers.
- During a hearing, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the security failure, arguing that absent disciplinary action risked weakening confidence in federal data security.
- The Treasury Department faces pressure to implement six GAO recommendations to strengthen security controls, though Bessent claimed the department had 'tightened protocols' without providing specific details about the changes.
24 Articles
24 Articles
GAO Audit Says DOGE Overstated Government Savings
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit has concluded that the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) overstated its reported savings from federal spending reductions and identified weaknesses in Treasury Department security controls. According to the report, auditors found that DOGE's published savings figures could not be fully verified and that several cost-cutting claims were inaccurate or overstated.The report said …
DOGE ‘Wall of Receipts’ padded figures, included baseless claims: watchdog
A website created by President Donald Trump’s DOGE to tally its purported cost savings contained myriad data quality issues and inaccuracies, a congressional watchdog reported Thursday. In a review of the Department of Government Efficiency’s “Wall of Receipts” website, the Government Accountability Office found the group didn’t use transparent methods to produce its figures, included lease terminations that predated DOGE’s creation, and listed …
DOGE claimed $110 billion in spending cuts that couldn't be verified, audit finds
The GAO says it could not verify a staggering 96 percent of the savings DOGE claimed from cutting various federal grants because the department "did not provide sufficient information to verify" those cuts.
DOGE Savings Face Federal Scrutiny
The Government Accountability Office said Thursday it could verify solid support for only 4% of the $110.3 billion in savings the Department of Government Efficiency claimed to have delivered for taxpayers before shutting down in July. DOGE tracked its claimed cuts on a public “Wall of Receipts,” including credit for terminating 13,476 federal contracts. GAO investigators reviewed the underlying contract data and confirmed only 43% of those cont…
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