Dec. 9, 2025, 9:57 p.m. ET
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said in a podcast interview on Dec. 9 that the Department of Government Efficiency was “somewhat successful,” but he would not return to the initiative again.
Speaking on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO said the Department of Government Efficiency — known as DOGE — had only been a “little bit successful” in its goal to save taxpayers’ money and reduce spending and regulations. The controversial initiative, a brainchild of Musk, laid off thousands of government workers but failed to deliver on its promises to cut the federal budget.
“We were somewhat successful,” Musk told Katie Miller, who worked as an advisor and spokesperson for DOGE earlier this year and is married to Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff.
“We stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was just entirely wasteful,” Musk added. “For example, there was probably $100, maybe $200 billion worth of zombie payments per year, which simply by enforcing that there be a payment code and an explanation for the payment, the payment would not go out.”
When asked if he would do DOGE again, Musk said he doesn’t think so and believes he could have focused on his other ventures and “they wouldn’t have been burning the cars.” In a backlash against Musk and his DOGE efforts earlier this year, Tesla dealerships and individual vehicles were vandalized, and dozens of protests erupted across the country.
Musk gained political influence after backing President Donald Trump during the 2024 election and became one of his campaign’s largest funders. Earlier this summer, Musk left the White House after a public feud with Trump.
Disbandment of DOGE
The name DOGE, Musk said, was “a made-up name” that was “based on internet suggestions.” Within DOGE’s first 100 days, it led to layoffs and buyouts that left thousands of federal workers out of their jobs.
With Trump’s support, Musk claimed that DOGE would reduce government spending. He initially said the agency would cut $2 trillion within its first year before revising that to $1 trillion. In April, Musk significantly lowered that figure and said at a cabinet meeting that the agency would cut $150 billion in spending over the next fiscal year.
DOGE claimed to have slashed tens of billions of dollars in expenditures since its creation. But outside financial experts have said they could not verify that figure because the agency has not provided access to its accounting methods.
Musk also repeatedly touted the agency’s work on his X platform and, at one point, brandished a chainsaw to promote his efforts to cut government jobs. “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” Musk said, holding the chainsaw above his head at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland in February.
But the initiative was short-lived. After about four months as a “special government employee,” Musk announced in May he was departing the Trump administration. In November, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Scott Kupor, said in a social media post that DOGE does “not have centralized leadership.”
Kupor previously confirmed to Reuters, which first reported the initiative no longer exists, that DOGE was no longer a “centralized entity.” The agency was less than a year old when it disbanded.
Contributing: Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY; Reuters
