Does a ‘US Debt Clock’ prove DOGE has saved $64 billion? Why the clock and that claim lack evidence

Shortly into President Donald Trump’s second term, some social media users claimed the Department of Government Efficiency, a new advisory committee tasked with slashing government expenses, had already reported massive savings.

A Feb. 7 Instagram post showed photos of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Text above the photos read, "According to the US Debt Clock, DOGE has saved taxpayers $64 billion dollars in just 17 days."

Some social media users shared the same figure, while others claimed the savings since Trump took office were even higher, reaching more than $100 billion.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

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There’s no evidence the Department of Government Efficiency has saved the U.S. government $64 billion or more. In fact, DOGE’s website reports a much lower number, not all of which is accounted for.

The social media posts pointed to the website, "USDebtClock.org," which claims to track the U.S. national debt and other economic and government data. The website was registered in November 2008 by a company that keeps registrants’ names private. Internet Archive shows the page has existed since at least December 2008.

Among the website’s many colorful boxes of rapidly increasing numbers is a golden box labeled "D.O.G.E. Clock." The Internet Archive shows this supposed government savings tracker was added to the website Jan. 20, the day Trump took office.

On Feb. 21, one month into Trump’s second term, the DOGE Clock showed a total of $121 billion saved and counting. But the U.S. Debt Clock website doesn’t explain how it arrived at this number or who is maintaining the site — and its figures don’t align with what DOGE itself has described.

The debt clock site’s about page says it is not associated with any U.S. government agency and not affiliated with or funded by any political party, organization or lobbying group. USDebtClock.org says it’s also not affiliated with the physical National Debt Clock located in New York City or any other online debt clocks.

PolitiFact contacted the email listed on the website’s about page, but received no response before publication.

The U.S. Debt Clock also has mobile apps in the Apple and Google Play app stores that were created by Chrono Numeric Labs LLC, a limited liability company registered in Michigan.

The debt clock website includes sources for all its metrics, except its DOGE Clock. When viewers hover over the DOGE Clock box, text appears that reads, "The Department of Government Efficiency Advisory Commission, the real-time savings objective from reducing government waste, fraud and abuse in federal government agencies."

The Department of Government Efficiency’s website said Feb. 17 that its estimated savings from the government is $55 billion — less than half the total listed on the U.S. Debt Clock website.

But this $55 billion total doesn’t add up, according to the "wall of receipts" posted on DOGE’s website.

Initially, DOGE’s Feb. 17 data release listed 1,128 government contracts it says have been canceled for a total savings of $16 billion. However, one Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract was incorrectly valued at $8 billion instead of $8 million. After this error was fixed, the website’s receipts showed about $8.5 billion in savings.

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stated on February 20, 2025 in a Facebook post

Video shows White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Americans can get $4,800 subsidy because Department of Government Efficiency cuts found “extra money.”

As of Feb. 21, the site also listed about 100 real estate contracts, which, if terminated, DOGE says would save about $144.6 million.

DOGE has not yet accounted for the remaining $46.4 billion in savings it claims to have secured. The website says the contracts listed so far account for 20% of the overall savings, but that’s incorrect. The $8.6 billion in supposed savings accounts for about 15.7% of $55 billion.

An NPR analysis found that about half of the government contracts listed on DOGE’s website, accounting for $6.5 billion in supposed savings, haven’t been terminated. The contracts NPR confirmed as canceled accounted for $2 billion.

When we were looking into this post’s claim, we found multiple websites claiming to track the taxpayer money DOGE aims to save. The websites, "dogegov.com" and "doge-tracker.com" both feature a "DOGE Live Tracker." Neither website is affiliated with the federal government or DOGE.

The website dogegov.com was registered Sept. 1, 2024, and doge-tracker.com was registered Feb. 3.

On Feb. 21, both websites said that the "official" amount of tax dollars saved was $55 billion, pointing to DOGE’s website as the source. According to DOGE’s X account, the online trackers said $51.7 billion had been saved.

Social media posts cited what they called the "US Debt Clock" and said, "DOGE has saved taxpayers $64 billion dollars in just 17 days."

There is no evidence to support this claim. The posts pointed to USDebtClock.org, but the website provided no source or explanation for its "DOGE Clock" counter with a rapidly increasing multibillion-dollar savings total, which had hit $121 billion by Feb. 21.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s website said that as of Feb. 17, the advisory committee has saved $55 billion. However, the data available on its site accounts for only $8.5 billion.

We rate this claim False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.