Updated July 7, 2026, 6:04 p.m. ET
The government cost-cutting initiative started by billionaire Elon Musk is formally shutting down, a year and a half after it began and about a year after the founder left Donald Trump’s administration.
The Department of Government Efficiency wrote July 4 on its X account that its formal mission ended but “the mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse will continue. Good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and accountable government are not temporary initiatives.”
The initiative, nicknamed DOGE, was a quasi-agency that Musk ran as an adviser to the president. His staff worked within formal agencies and used artificial intelligence to find ways to cut costs. They were central to the mass layoffs that took place in 2025. DOGE shares a name with Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency.
A USA TODAY review published in February found that DOGE ended contracts in 64 different agencies, but 30% of those contracts had already been paid by the time they were terminated, meaning that provided virtually no savings.
Blanchard argued that the terminations were unlawful because the government had already entered into binding agreements and obligated the funding.
Jillian Blanchard, a vice president at the nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government, said she believed many of the contract terminations were improper. “Someone signed on the dotted line and committed to the obligation and the agency or department just unlawfully terminated it,” she told USA TODAY.
In the federal government, there are 72 positions within agencies called inspectors general and are responsible for investigating fraud, waste and abuse. The Trump administration fired many of these, and a court allowed their firings to stand, but other posts remain filled.
Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and John Heasly
