The Department of Government Efficiency shut down operations on July 4, having spent 18 months dismantling what its backers called the most bloated bureaucracy in American history.
DOGE announced the closure Saturday on X, quoting former President Theodore Roosevelt: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” The post added: “While the formal mission of DOGE has come to an end, the mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse will continue.”
The department was created under an executive order President Trump signed on his first day back in office, which renamed the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service and set a sunset date tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary. DOGE’s mandate gave its officials full access to unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT infrastructure across the federal government.
By October 2025, DOGE estimated it had saved taxpayers $214 billion through asset sales, contract and grant cancellations, lease terminations, fraud elimination, and workforce reductions. That figure works out to roughly $1,329 per taxpayer, based on approximately 161 million filers. The department also claimed to have reduced the national debt by 0.54 percent.
The workforce reductions were substantial. More than 272,000 federal employees departed since Trump returned to office, driven by a hiring freeze, early retirement packages, and reductions in force. Nearly 140,000 of those left through the deferred resignation program, which allowed workers to receive full pay and benefits through September 30, 2025 in exchange for stepping aside. The Departments of Defense, Treasury, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and Interior saw the highest departure numbers. The Pentagon alone shed more than 48,000 employees.
Elon Musk oversaw DOGE’s early operations as a special government employee, a role he held for 130 days before departing the administration. Amy Gleason served as acting administrator from February 2025 until the shutdown. Gleason has since moved to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Critics disputed the savings numbers and questioned the cost of the deferred resignation program itself. In December, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility estimated the program cost taxpayers $10 billion. “Ironically, this unreasonably costly mass idling of civil servants was done in the name of ‘government efficiency,'” Timothy White wrote to the Government Accountability Office.
The administration also requested $35 million from Congress for DOGE in the fiscal year 2027 budget.
Some employees who were laid off were subsequently rehired in the fall following litigation. Federal courts also blocked certain cuts from taking effect.
