US audit finds DOGE unable to verify 96% of claimed grant savings

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) could not verify nearly all of the savings claimed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led agency. In a report released yesterday, the watchdog found that for 13,553 of the 15,887 grants DOGE reported as terminated, there was insufficient information to confirm the calculation method or what the savings consisted of — roughly 96% of the claimed $49.2 billion.

Beyond grants, the GAO concluded that DOGE did not apply its stated methodology to calculate savings for most terminated contracts and exaggerated the benefits from canceled leases. The department itself declined interview requests and did not respond to clarification inquiries, according to the report.

The report was prepared at the request of Senators Gary Peters and Richard Blumenthal, submitted in June 2025. In response, Peters said Musk and the Trump administration claimed billions in savings they could not substantiate, took credit for work already underway, and refused to show their calculations, all while putting Americans' sensitive data at risk and hollowing out critical agencies.

DOGE's "Wall of Receipts" website claims the department saved taxpayers $215 billion through asset sales, contract and lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions. But even that figure falls far short of Musk's goal of $1 trillion.

Outside analysts had previously indicated that DOGE's savings claims were heavily inflated. Last year, Senate Democratic staff investigating DOGE activities at three agencies found armed guards, locked doors, and windows covered with trash bags — the department attempted to operate under strict secrecy.