The Department of Government Efficiency continues to come under fire for inaccuracies in its reported federal savings, which would serve as the foundation for a potential DOGE check. The DOGE savings tracker, dubbed the “Wall of Receipts,” a public ledger showcasing canceled government contracts, has been revised multiple times, significantly reducing the claimed savings. For the second time in less than a week, DOGE deleted hundreds of additional claims. The deletions erased $4 billion in additional savings that the group said it had made for U.S. taxpayers. At the same time, it introduced a tracker detailing the amount saved per taxpayer, an implicit nod to a potential DOGE check.
DOGE Savings Tracker Deletes More Claims, Reduced Potential DOGE Check Amount
The DOGE savings tracker would be a critical input in calculating the value of a potential DOGE check. In a move that has raised eyebrows, DOGE quietly deleted or altered over 1,000 contracts from its Wall of Receipts late Sunday night, effectively erasing $4 billion in previously claimed savings, The New York Times reported. This adjustment accounted for more than 40% of all contracts listed on the site as of last week. Notably, five of the seven largest savings entries from the previous week were removed. This marks the second significant revision within a week, with total claimed savings declining from $16 billion at the initial posting on February 19 to less than $9 billion.
Since its inception, the DOGE savings tracker has been plagued with inaccuracies. Errors have included confusing billions with millions, triple-counting cancellations, and crediting DOGE for contracts that had ended years prior. Last week, significant errors were identified, including an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. DOGE initially reported that cancellation was a $8 billion savings, whereas the actual value was $8 million.
Examples of the most significant claims that most recently disappeared, according to The New York Times analysis, include:
IRS Contract Cancellation: DOGE reported a $1.9 billion saving from canceling an Internal Revenue Service contract for tech assistance. However, this contract had been terminated in November, during the previous administration, rendering the claim invalid.
HHS Administrative Assistants: A $149 million saving was attributed to canceling a contract for administrative assistants at the Department of Health and Human Services. This entry contained multiple errors, including linking to an unrelated contract.
USAID Libya Contract: DOGE claimed a $133 million saving from canceling a U.S. Agency for International Development contract in Libya. The contractor had already completed the work before DOGE’s involvement.
These errors have raised concerns about DOGE’s understanding of federal contracting processes. “Overall, there’s a certain randomness to it,” said Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, told The Times. “It seems like DOGE had certain agencies pull together some random lists of contracts that may or may not currently exist anyway, and then, without checking the data very well, uploaded it onto a website and summed up the amounts. It doesn’t seem to be centrally coordinated.”
Introduction of Taxpayer Savings Tracker: A Nod To A Potential DOGE Check
DOGE also recently introduced a new feature on its website: a tracker displaying the amount saved per taxpayer in what appears to be an implicit nod to the recent DOGE check proposal, which would return 20% of DOGE’s savings to taxpayers. The tool gives citizens a view of what DOGE’s savings translate to on a per taxpayer basis. Irrespective of the deletions highlighted by The Times, as of March 2, 2025, DOGE claims to have saved $105 billion. This would translate to $652.17 per taxpayer, assuming 161 million individual federal taxpayers (a figure that differs slightly from the 179 million figure that James Fishback, who created the DOGE check concept, had used in his calculation). The DOGE check concept proposed carving out 20% of DOGE’s savings to remit back to taxpayers. That means that if you take DOGE’s savings tracker at face value, the current value of a potential DOGE check would currently be $130.43.
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