Economic Rules Hub
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
Home Politics Unfinished Business: The budget cuts Musk couldn’t complete and what’s next for DOGE
Politics

Unfinished Business: The budget cuts Musk couldn’t complete and what’s next for DOGE

by admin May 31, 2025
May 31, 2025

Though Elon Musk leaves behind a legacy of massive cuts to government programs which left many members of the Washington, D.C., establishment enraged, he was not able to accomplish all the lofty goals he set at the beginning of his time as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

According to a May 26 update on DOGE’s website, the initiative has saved an estimated $175 billion through asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment crackdowns and other spending cuts. That translates to about $1,087 in savings per taxpayer.

Though significant, the $175 billion is a far cry from the original $2 trillion–nearly a third of the federal government’s total spending–that Musk originally set out to cut.

So, what went wrong?

Richard Stern, an economics policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that DOGE ‘overestimated what legal flexibility they would have, and the agencies would have, to actually make good on that.’

From the start, DOGE was hit with not only a tsunami of negative press and outraged Democratic lawmakers, but also a series of lawsuits, which bogged it down in protracted legal battles.

This, coupled with the reality of most of the major end cuts requiring congressional approval to carry out, relegated DOGE’s impact on cutting around the edges of the big programs and agencies it likely would have liked to eliminate entirely.

Despite Musk’s efforts, in many cases agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could only be shrunk and limited, while total elimination requires an act of Congress.

Just last week, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell blocked the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, writing in a ruling that the removal of its board members and the takeover of its headquarters by members of DOGE are actions that are ‘null and void.’ 

Stern asserted that ‘at the end of the day, they were just a little overzealous about how much legal authority they would ultimately have to be able to make this many cuts themselves,’ 

Where Stern believes DOGE can have the greatest impact is on focusing on the information-gathering and whistleblower aspects of its mission.

‘You can kind of break down DOGE into two very large buckets,’ he posited. ‘The first large bucket, which is the one that’s mostly been not done, is actually making grand spending cuts themselves directly. I think the second one was identifying what cuts could be made.’

‘The original plan was that DOGE could come in and do both these things that they could find specific spending to cut … and then the other part of that was identifying this information and making it public that people didn’t have that would allow for really thought-out spending cuts to come in from Congress,’ he explained.

Though less flashy, Stern believes this is where DOGE, going forward, can have its greatest impact.  

‘There’s a lot of think tanks, including Heritage, that have put together lists for a very long time as to policies that we don’t think are good, where you could cut spending. But I think what no one has a window into is the really deep mechanics of how a lot of these programs work. And so, because of that, it’s actually been very hard in a really robust fashion to even know what programs you could cut spending from or how you would do it or what the ramifications would be,’ he explained.

‘So, DOGE, by being in the administration, has been in and continues to be in a position to actually make that public, to actually put a spotlight on that in a way that really almost nobody else was in a position to do,’ Stern went on. ‘That can feed rescission bills and congressional cuts down the road. But some admin needed to actually do that. And DOGE is finally doing that.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

0
FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
previous post
Elon Musk sports black eye at farewell presser in Oval Office: ‘Horsing around with little X’
next post
Alleged attempt to impersonate White House chief of staff under federal investigation

Related Posts

There’s a way to aid Gaza. I know, my foundation...

June 5, 2025

Comer widens Biden ‘cover-up’ probe, seeks interviews with Anita Dunn...

June 5, 2025

Elon Musk posts ‘Kill Bill’ meme in latest push to...

June 5, 2025

Durbin obstruction threat chills Senate as Trump nominees hang in...

June 5, 2025

Elon Musk warpath against Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ rattles House...

June 5, 2025

Johnson says Republicans ‘don’t have time’ to craft new Trump...

June 5, 2025

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free


    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent

    • Top Salvadoran ex-military officers sentenced for wartime killing of Dutch journalists

      June 5, 2025
    • ‘Death and hunger’: Videos, expert analysis and witnesses point to Israeli gunfire in Gaza aid site shooting

      June 5, 2025
    • Argentina’s president denies new intelligence plan could enable surveillance of journalists and politicians

      June 5, 2025
    • US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire

      June 5, 2025
    • Germany’s straight-talking new leader is meeting with Trump for the first time. Here’s why it matters

      June 5, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (1,391)
    • Investing (3,389)
    • Politics (4,536)
    • World (4,451)
    • Email Whitelisting
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contacts
    • About us

    Disclaimer: EconomicRulesHub.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2024 EconomicRulesHub.com | All Rights Reserved

    Economic Rules Hub
    • World
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Investing