DOGE self-deletes on July 4th. The grand experiment fell apart long before that.
President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting commission, which once threw the government into chaos, is nearing its fate by becoming a legacy federal initiative.
Up for debate: How and when the Department of Government Efficiency, which has caused thousands of federal employees to quit their jobs and voided billions of dollars in government contracts, will actually come to an end.
Trump’s January 2025 executive order creating DOGE also set a July 4, 2026 sunset. “A smaller Government, more efficient and with less bureaucracy, will be an excellent gift to America on its six-hundredth anniversary,” the President said when he announced the commission.
But DOGE hasn’t actually delivered on that promise, said Elizabeth Linos, a Harvard Kennedy School professor of public policy and management, and others who spoke to POLITICO about DOGE’s dramatic efforts over the past 18 months. Instead, it resulted in an almost immediate loss of expertise and life-saving programs, but the cost savings came nowhere near the $2 trillion once promised.
Looking long term, Linos said DOGE “is effectively telling the American people that they can’t trust the government to protect their data, to use their data and technology for good.”
“This has really long-lasting implications for our ability to rebuild trust in government and even entice the next generation of talent to enter government,” he said.
DOGE claims to have saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, through cuts it made, including cutting duplicate software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants and ending leases for underutilized office space. That’s a tiny fraction of the federal budget, which currently stands at about $7 trillion each year. Those efforts also ended relatively early when tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year.
It’s unclear what will happen next.
“President Trump has been given a clear mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. “He has made significant progress in making the federal government more efficient to better serve American taxpayers.”
The White House did not answer questions about whether DOGE would formally withdraw, as Trump’s order foretold, or whether it had already withdrawn.
According to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, DOGE’s final review is yet to come. “traumatized” federal employees.”
“We have no plans for a closing report from Doge,” Vought said at the hearing Tuesday. “We’re always happy to give you our assessment of this work. I think there’s really significant progress being made.”
White House budget proposal announced in April He asked for 35 million dollars For US DOGE Service. But at the same hearing, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) noted that “DOGE has been largely eliminated” in the request.
Trump signed on his first day back at the White House executive order It establishes DOGE and renames the US Digital Service, an Obama-era office, to the US DOGE Service. The decision stated, “The US DOGE Service Interim Organization will terminate on July 4, 2026.”
The president appointed Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as co-leaders of DOGE.
Having an end date has been billed as a major selling point. “Last step @DOGE “It’s erasing yourself,” Musk said. he said on social media site X.
But Ramaswamy quickly gave up and is now running for governor of Ohio. Other signs suggest that everyone else is moving on, too.
DOGE’s X accountFacebook, which has nearly 5 million followers, has been largely dormant in recent months but came back to life last week to defend cuts to USAID after Democrats said its elimination was causing deaths around the world.
DOGE’s web page The list of cost savings has not been updated since January 1.
And U.S. DOGE Service Acting Administrator Amy Gleason has a new job; He leads a health technology office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Health Dive reported last month.
Linos said that after being DOGEized last year, different institutions lost their capacity and this did not lead to better outcomes for the public.
“In fact, wait times are getting longer and people are not getting the level of security they expect from their government,” he said. “In my opinion, we will not see a significant DOGE 2.0 in July.”
‘Deferred resignation’ and deregulation
In the first weeks of his second term, Trump issued a series of orders strengthening DOGE. downsizing the federal workforce with cut regulations together trashing contracts, grants and leases.
It was a surprising time. Career employees didn’t know who was in charge at their agency: Trump political appointees or DOGE aides. Some were so young they didn’t yet have a college degree.
A Ministry of Internal Affairs employee then he said“This looks like a coup.”
Musk led the cull of the federal workforce.
In January 2025, more than 2 million public employees received an email stating that they could be placed on paid administrative leave if they chose to leave public service later in the year. Musk sent a similar “Crossroads” message to Twitter employees when he took over the social media company in 2022.
Nearly 140,000 federal employees opted for “deferred resignation” program Data for May Compiled by the Department of Personnel Management.
Ron Sanders, a former OPM deputy director and retired member of the Senior Executive Service, compared DOGE to past government reform commissions. He said DOGE is a little different because it taps into the energy of Musk and his team.
But “the outcome was largely the same,” Sanders said. “This is, at least in theory, a more efficient federal government; it means fewer civil servants.”
Don Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, said previous reform efforts sought to improve the work of government.
“That didn’t happen; he just focused on cutting,” Kettl said. “This was Musk’s tradition of destroying an organization and then rebuilding it when necessary. But the rebuilding process turned out to be awkward and fraught with problems.”
Federal labor unions clashed with DOGE over Musk and his team’s targeting of their members. National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said the cuts supported by the group were weakening institutions and laying off staff.
“DOGE has never substantiated its claims of savings or widespread waste, fraud or abuse,” Greenwald said in a statement. “This has only caused chaos, disrupted lives, and made government work worse for the people it serves.”
Musk and the DOGE team, which had its heyday in the first months of Trump’s second term, were praised by administration officials. “Loving the extraordinary partnership @EPA happened with @ElonMusk and all @DOGE team,” Manager Lee Zeldin he said on social media While pursuing “every possible efficiency while ending wasteful spending and practices.”
DOGE was also tasked with reducing federal rules. The White House claimed victory by claiming that 129 regulations were cut for every new rule enacted.
But the administration’s allies question those results.
“Trump’s regulatory overhauls have not actually translated into less governance,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute said. annual review DOGE “reveals the limits of one-off reform efforts,” said Wayne Crews, who studies regulation at the free-market think tank federal rules.
“Much of the administrative state is protected by law, civil service rules, lawsuits, congressional interests and established constituencies,” Crews said. “Permanent reform requires changing underlying institutions rather than relying on interim management initiatives.”
Meanwhile, political leaders at federal agencies clashed with DOGE officials for control.
an addendum Regarding the assignment agreement between DOGE and EPA, he emphasized that DOGE employees report to the EPA administrator. That was the original intention of both parties, but they agreed to these additional terms “for the avoidance of doubt,” according to the document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
This agreement It ran from January 20 last year to July 4, 2026, with the option to extend it “by means of a signed addendum.”
EPA’s press office acknowledged questions about the agency’s agreement with DOGE but did not provide a response.
In December, Musk said on the Katie Miller Podcast that DOGE was having “some success.” But he wouldn’t do it again.
“Instead of doing DOGE, I would work at my own companies and they wouldn’t burn the cars,” Musk said, referring to protesters trashing Tesla vehicles.
Sanders stated that DOGE and federal workers must work together for the commission to be successful, adding that “it takes two to tango.”
“It takes a DOGE-like outsider’s perspective to ask some tough questions,” Sanders said. “Answering these questions and having the courage to identify real oils requires insider knowledge, often from career civil servants.”
His soul is alive
Trump officials emphasized that the DOGE spirit is embedded in the administration.
OPM Director Scott Kupor in November he told Reuters DOGE is “not available” but clarified about x “it may not have central leadership” but “DOGE’s principles remain alive and well.”
DOGE officials have left the institutions they once consulted. EPA and Department of the Interior.
Musk left last year — with an awkward Oval Office press conference and a literal black eye — as his 130 days as a dedicated government employee came to an end.
Still, some DOGE veterans remain in the federal government.
Several notable DOGE figures came to the National Design Studio. another temporary organization It was established under a separate Trump order. Reporting to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, the agency’s mission is to redesign government websites and digital services.
Among them is billionaire co-founder Joe Gebbia, who serves as Airbnb’s chief design officer. Gebbia is Musk’s friend — National Design Studio’s web page features a photo taken together. Neither responded to a request for comment.
Another former DOGE official currently at NDS who is garnering attention is Zachary Terrell. Cutting National Science Foundation grants last year.
There is also former DOGE official Edward Coristine, known as “Big Balls”.
“This is definitely the only place in government where people work seven days a week and consume Red Bull,” Coristine said on the TBPN podcast this week.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Digital Service, the forerunner of the U.S. DOGE Service, “remains largely the same mission,” Gleason said at an industry conference last month. Federal News Network reported. He did not respond to a request for comment.
As the global race towards artificial intelligence begins, hiring highly skilled tech workers is a top priority for the Trump administration.
USDS looks like it’s here to stay. website It encourages the application of skills. house property owners, invoice report, It directed the “DOGE Administrator” to submit quarterly reports on hires, secondees, and transfers to other agencies.
“I think this is USDS recognizing that agency technology is woefully outdated and needs to be modernized,” said Jenny Mattingley, vice president of public policy and stakeholder engagement at the Public Service Partnership. “So in that sense, if that’s something they can do, that’s a useful legacy to have.”
Still, Kettl said it’s clear that no future president will emulate DOGE’s slash-and-burn style.
“Republicans will try to find different ways to streamline the government. Democrats will try to find alternative ways to improve performance,” he said. “But no one will take the DOGE path again.”
Contact Kevin Bogardus on the encrypted messaging app Signal at Kevin Bogardus.89 and Scott Waldman at Waldman.04.
