Shortly after Trump’s latest election in November, The New Republic reported:
Incoming Department of Government Efficiency head and world’s richest man Elon Musk has proposed cutting $2 trillion in government spending—more than Congress’s entire discretionary budget. But some of Donald Trump’s key allies don’t see anything wrong with that picture.
In an interview with Fox Business on Friday, Virginia Representative Ben Cline claimed that it “absolutely is” possible to slash that much cash from the budget.
“We can do it, and make sure that we focus funding toward the American people and not toward bureaucracy in Washington,” Cline said.
Just a reminder: Congress’s discretionary budget funds practically the entire executive branch, doling out funding for the military, national security, and federal agencies.
Whether Cline believed Musk could accomplish this obviously impossible feat, or if he was just sucking up to Trump and his people as usual, we may never know.
But six months later, we have a clearer idea of the alleged savings that DOGE accomplished.
That is to say, DOGE savings will amount to less than 8 percent of the original $2 trillion target at most— the target that Cline said was “absolutely” possible. Perhaps Cline was overly dazzled by what he considers Musk’s superior brain.
Meanwhile the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service estimates that DOGE’s actions will actually cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year.
PSP’s estimate is based on the $270 billion in annual compensation costs for the federal workforce, calculating the impact of DOGE’s actions, from paid leave to productivity hits. The $135 billion cost to taxpayers doesn’t include the expense of defending multiple lawsuits challenging DOGE’s actions, nor the impact of estimated lost tax collections due to staff cuts at the IRS.
So it’s entirely possible that DOGE will end up costing us more than it saves— not just in cuts to public services on which millions of Americans depend, but in actual dollars.
And then what will Cline have to say? That is, if we can find him to ask.
Cline Watch 