Trump’s DOGE shuts down after sweeping federal cuts

The Department of Government Efficiency shut down after terminating more than 13,440 contracts and more than 15,887 grants, while also cutting leases for underused office space and pushing workforce reductions across federal agencies. The temporary office had been created by Donald Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025, and was scheduled to expire on July 4, 2026.

Elon Musk’s direct role was short-lived. He left the effort in May 2025 after about 130 days, and Trump administration officials kept DOGE running after his departure. What began as a promise to modernize federal technology and software, reduce bureaucracy and remake the workforce ended as a case study in how far executive power could reach before the clock ran out.

DOGE claimed roughly $215 billion in estimated savings, a figure that worked out to about $1,335.40 per taxpayer. Reporters and policy experts disputed the math, and the administration did not plan to issue a final accounting, leaving the headline number untested against a complete public ledger of cancellations, payroll cuts and lease terminations.

The human toll inside the government was sharper than the accounting. House Oversight Democrats said in an interim report that DOGE coordinated to purge the expert federal workforce and attack statutory programs. The same congressional review said the initiative had decimated and demoralized the federal workforce, language that matched the turmoil in agencies where staff were sent packing or saw programs stripped back with little warning.

As the shutdown settled in, some agencies began reversing Musk-era cuts and rehiring staff, a sign that the cleanup phase was already under way. The White House said it would keep pursuing DOGE’s goals through other efficiency efforts, preserving the broader push even as the formal organization disappeared. What remains is a blunt record: thousands of contracts and grants canceled, workers displaced, savings contested, and a template for future administrations that may find the same rapid-cut machinery easier to start than to justify.