(José Niño, Headline USA) Elon Musk has been vocal about his goal to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion. This amount would halve the federal budget deficit and significantly move the U.S. closer to curbing the growth of its debt relative to the economy’s size.
However, early indications are that spending under the early Trump administration is already at a higher rate than it was under Biden.
Musk claims that $130 billion has been saved to date, equating to approximately $2 billion in daily savings since President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in late January.
ELON MUSK: "I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within the time frame of 130 days.
Our goal is to reduce the waste and fraud by $4 billion a day everyday, 7 days a week."
Thank you @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/gOlUINcgiN— Farm Girl Carrie 👩🌾 (@FarmGirlCarrie) March 27, 2025
But verifying his claims is challenging for reporters and analysts, as there have been documented cases of inaccuracies and examples of alleged savings disappearing from the list of reported cost-cutting measures.
According to Chris Matthew of MarketWatch, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has further complicated fact-checking by removing federal identification numbers from its website’s source code, which would have allowed outsiders to precisely identify the grants and contracts referenced.
One of DOGE’s largest claimed savings is the cancellation of a $1.9 trillion IT modernization contract. However, the contractor involved stated last month that the contract was actually canceled in November, during President Joe Biden’s administration.
On top of that, the Federal Procurement Data System—a database tracking federal procurement projects—shows that no funds were ever spent on this grant, despite the IRS being authorized to allocate $1.9 billion over the span of seven years.
Broader federal spending data also casts doubt on DOGE’s claims of saving taxpayer money.
According to The Hamilton Project, which studies federal spending using daily Treasury statements, the federal government had spent $1.893 trillion in 2025 as of March 26, compared to $1.763 trillion by the same date in 2024—a year-over-year increase of 7.4 percent.
While federal expenditures often increase next to economic growth, current spending levels are largely governed by a continuing budget resolution that maintains funding levels set by President Biden in 2024.
By contrast, at the end of the first quarter in 2024, federal spending was projected to be 1.6 percent lower than in 2023, though total spending for 2024 ultimately ended up 3 percent higher than in 2023.
“[M]ost of the cuts they have talked about are pretty small-bore, and I think that’s the major takeaway,” Wendy Edelberg, former chief economist at the Congressional Budget Office and director of the Hamilton Project, said to MarketWatch.
“It’s less surprising when you consider that most of the cuts they have talked about are pretty small bore, and I think that’s the major takeaway,” she continued.
Slashing the national debt will be a tall order for policymakers.
As of March 31, 2025, the U.S. national debt stands at approximately $36.66 trillion, according to data from the U.S. Treasury and recent reports.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
