One month in, President Donald Trump's government efficiency squad claims it has found billions in savings, but the amount is in dispute. 

The promise to create a government efficiency commission, which Trump ordered Jan. 20, is one of 75 Trump campaign promises that PolitiFact is tracking on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is posting its progress on canceled contracts on a "wall of receipts" website. The DOGE site said Feb. 17 that it had saved $55 billion, but news outlets including PolitiFact found that some of the savings were exaggerated.

An entry for $16 billion in savings from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for example, included an $8 billion contract in its total, even though its real value was $8 million, The New York Times reported.

The DOGE X account said the contract amount was mistakenly entered in 2022 and that it had been corrected on the DOGE website. However, NPR found that DOGE continued to count the $8 billion contract toward the $55 billion. 

USA Spending, the database that tracks government grants and contracts, showed that about $2.5 million of that contract had been spent.

Jessica Riedl, an expert on the federal budget at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative policy group, said DOGE has cut far less than the $55 billion it claims. DOGE is counting the dollars for contracts as savings even if some has already been spent. 

"In some instances they are listing the full value of a three-year contract without adjusting for the amount already disbursed or obligated, and counting multiple years into one," said Riedl, who worked as the chief economist to former Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

A lot of the contracts have been terminated for the government's convenience — a clause that allows the government to unilaterally terminate the contract, and is unique to government contracting, said Jessica Tillipman, an expert on government procurement law at George Washington University law school. But the government is still liable for some costs, such as work performed, even under this term, Tillipman said. 

It's hard to know at this point whether the programs targeted for cuts will be permanent. The 1974 Impoundment Control Act says that if the executive branch wants to cancel spending, it must propose a cut, known as a "rescission." 

"Even if the money is rescinded, the agencies still have the authority to redirect the money elsewhere unless Congress passes a rescissions bill," Riedl said.

A rescission bill would take back funding that had been provided in a previous law.

 The impoundment law says that if the executive branch wants to cancel spending, it must propose a cut, known as a "rescission." Spending cannot be paused for more than 45 days as lawmakers consider the cuts.

An Associated Press poll in January shows most Americans support some cuts, though the majority of respondents wanted more funding for some programs, including Social Security and Medicare.

Trump and Elon Musk, the frontman of DOGE, have repeatedly said they have uncovered fraud but have not shown evidence of crimes. The White House has largely pointed to projects, many through the U.S. Agency for International Development, that it disagrees with ideologically, such as efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion or climate change. Some people may agree that such projects were unnecessary or wasteful, but that's not the same as fraud.

The effort to cut government spending has attracted controversy and court challenges, but it is not slowing down. For now, we continue to rate this promise In the Works. 

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President Donald Trump established what he called the Department of Government Efficiency, launching an effort led by Elon Musk to officially recommend ways to slash federal spending.

During the campaign, Trump promised to create a "government efficiency commission" that will "eliminate fraud and improper payments." Trump took the first step Jan. 20 by signing an executive order to establish the commission, replacing an Obama-era agency with the effort known as DOGE. The acronym appears to be a nod to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, which Musk and others have promoted. 

On the same day, unions, watchdogs and law firms filed lawsuits alleging that DOGE violated a law that requires transparency rules on disclosure and hiring.

The promise is one of 75 Trump made that PolitiFact will track on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.

Musk said before the election that he wanted the federal government to cut "at least $2 trillion." But in January, he said that $2 trillion was a "best-case outcome." Musk was set to co-lead the commission with Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, but Ramaswamy dropped out as he teased a potential run for Ohio governor.

Although Trump's executive order calls DOGE a department, Congress has the power to organize agencies and departments. This is why media outlets have often referred to DOGE as a panel or a commission.

"It is not a new federal agency, which only Congress, under our constitution, is authorized to create," said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law at George Washington University Law School. "This comes down to basic separation of powers principles. We are not a monarchy. Our government is structured this way to prevent one branch, in this case the executive, from becoming too powerful (i.e., checks and balances)." 

Congress could establish a new agency through legislation. 

"With one party in control of the executive and legislative branches, this is not outside the realm of possibility," Tillipman said.

Trump's order does the following:

• Establishes DOGE to modernize "federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."

• Renames the United States Digital Service as the United States DOGE Service established in the Executive Office of the President.

• Asks each agency head to identify at least four employees within 30 days as DOGE team members. 

• States that DOGE is a temporary organization and shall terminate on July 4, 2026.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that fraud may cost the federal government $233 billion to $521 billion a year, citing 2018-22 data. 

The federal government has several tools to identify fraud in federal programs, including an inspector general's office to lead audits of each agency. Also, the Congressional Budget Office keeps a running tabulation of options for reducing the deficit. Agencies also hear bid protests, and the federal courts hear contract actions that violate the law. 

Experts on federal procurement and spending identified some potential challenges to DOGE's mission.

Any real movement on reducing appropriated funding, modifying entitlement programs or cutting programs will require congressional action, said Joshua Sewell, research and policy director at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan taxpayer advocacy group. 

If nongovernment officials do this work, it may not only be duplicative, but those people aren't bound by the same ethics and conflict rules as government officials, Tillipman said. 

"I am skeptical of any entity that may be comprised of non-government officials (due to the lack of ethics requirements) duplicating or hindering existing processes," Tillipman said. "It is not to say they can't be improved, but this is unprecedented. "

Trump promised to create a commission to find fraud and improper payments. He took the first step by creating DOGE, but we will monitor whether it survives court challenges and finds fraud. For now, we rate this promise In the Works.

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