Democrat asks agency watchdogs to tally the cost of DOGE
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is asking over 20 government watchdogs to tally DOGE’s costs in letters sent to inspectors general on Thursday.
“I write to request that you initiate a comprehensive review of DOGE’s activities within your agency in order to determine the full scope of costs that DOGE’s careless actions have imposed,” the letters read. “I ask that you review the financial impact of the reorganization of federal agencies through mass layoffs, the canceling of grants, contracts, and other projects for partisan reasons, and the stifling of income-generating activities.”
Blumenthal’s requests coincide with the release of a minority staff report about the cost of DOGE, which estimates that the efficiency effort has “generated at least $21.7 billion in waste across the federal government, despite its ostensible goal of eliminating government waste.”
Trump set up the group on his first day in office and, since then, it has focused on slashing government spending and headcount. The executive order forming DOGE gave them a technology-focused mandate.
Billionaire Elon Musk stepped away from the work earlier this summer and has since feuded with Trump, but, before that, he’d promised to save the government $2 trillion, eventually halving that goal to $1 trillion.
Critics say that DOGE hasn’t been looking at the biggest costs to the government. Much of the budget goes towards mandatory spending for programs like Social Security. Another critique is that some DOGE initiatives — like programs to pay federal employees not to work — actually cost money. DOGE savings tallies have been riddled with errors. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Blumenthal’s staff point to a $14.8 billion price tag for the administration’s deferred resignation program, approximating the cost by multiplying an average government-wide salary with the estimated 200,000 people that took the offer. The Washington Post reported Thursday morning that over 154,000 feds have taken the deferred resignation offer, which the administration first sent to feds via email in January.
The report also includes estimated costs of DOGE-related efforts like reinstating terminated employees and cancelling programs across agencies.
“Far from achieving its stated purpose, DOGE has undermined productive organizations, hindering efficiency and essential government services,” the report says, asking that watchdogs tally long term costs of DOGE in terms of lost agency capacity, in addition to more immediate consequences.
In a statement to Nextgov/FCW, Blumenthal said the report shows that “DOGE was clearly never about efficiency or saving the American taxpayer money.”
“I urge Inspectors General to take up our investigation’s findings and initiate a comprehensive review of DOGE’s careless actions,” he added.