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How much did DOGE spend trying to audit the U.S. government?
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory initiative led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy under the second Trump administration, conducted audits of federal spending from January to roughly October 2025. Its efforts focused on reviewing contracts, grants, leases, and programs across agencies to identify waste, with a mandate to reduce the federal budget by up to $2 trillion overall. However, DOGE's own operational costs—representing the taxpayer-funded spending on the audits themselves—are not explicitly broken out in official trackers or executive orders. Instead, available data points to indirect costs tied to its activities, including staff, IT reviews, and resulting disruptions. Key Cost Insights from DOGE Audits Direct Operational Costs: DOGE embedded small teams (typically 4 members per agency, including engineers, HR specialists, and attorneys) across federal departments to perform the audits. With over 15 cabinet-level agencies and numerous sub-agencies, this scaled to hundreds of personnel. No aggregate figure is published, but initial setup under Executive Order 14158 (January 20, 2025) involved special government employees on 130-day contracts, similar to Musk's role. Extrapolating from federal salary data (GS-13 to GS-15 levels at ~$120,000–$180,000 annually per role), a conservative estimate for 200–300 embedded staff over 10 months totals $20–$45 million in salaries and benefits alone. Additional expenses for software modernization and data access (e.g., Treasury payment system reviews) likely added $10–$20 million, based on comparable IT audit programs like those at the GAO. Indirect and Disruption Costs: A nonpartisan analysis by the Partnership for Public Service estimated that DOGE's audit-driven cuts (e.g., mass layoffs, contract terminations, and rehiring cycles) cost taxpayers $135 billion in lost productivity and severance during its first 100 days (January–April 2025). This includes: Federal workforce reductions: 317,000 departures vs. 68,000 hires in 2025, leading to service delays (e.g., Social Security claims backlogs). Repeated audits causing operational halts, estimated at $50–$70 billion in forgone efficiency. These figures represent the net economic drag from the audit process, not just execution costs. DOGE's Reported "Savings" vs. Audit Expenses DOGE's website (doge.gov) claims $214 billion in total savings from terminating 13,440 contracts, 15,887 grants, and 264 leases by November 2025. However, independent reviews (e.g., NPR, New York Times) found these overstated by 70–90% due to double-counting, including already-paid contracts, and ignoring restoration of 43 audited deals. Adjusted savings are closer to $2–$55 billion, far below the $1–$2 trillion target. Specific audit examples include: Department of Defense: $80 million in non-mission waste identified. USAID: $32.4 billion budget scrutinized, with cuts to foreign aid. Government-wide: 111 contracts terminated in one week (March 2025), saving $263 million ceiling value. Critics, including the Manhattan Institute, argue the "chainsaw" approach to audits increased short-term costs (e.g., for analysis and new controls) without proportional long-term gains, potentially netting a loss after disruptions. Supporters highlight transparency gains, like exposing $40 billion in federal credit card swipes (90 million transactions in 2024). DOGE was quietly disbanded in October 2025, eight months early, with its functions absorbed into agencies like the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget. For raw data, DOGE's API at doge.gov/savings allows querying contract-level spending. If you're seeking costs for a specific agency or audit phase, more granular details could be available via FOIA requests to the GAO.
