DOGE Shuts Down After Obligation, Leaving Efficiency Battle Blurred

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was all the talk at the beginning of President Trump's second term. The team spearheaded one of the most thorough evaluations of government spending we have ever seen. They found departments rife with fraud, waste and abuse, and proposed funding cuts to better balance the federal budget.

Of course, because politicians on the Hill ave been spoiled by bloated budgets, there was tons of pushback against DOGE. But the mission has come to an end, as it was always supposed to. They were a temporary department, with a year life span. DOGE formally ceased operations on July 4th, marking an end to their involvement in the administration. Now, it is leaving people asking what is next, and how the efforts will continue.

Economist EJ Antoni says just because DOGE was a temporary entity does not mean the efforts cease.

"In fact, most of what was identified as DOGE was actually regular department and agency employees who were simply operating under that banner," he says.

Employees being part of it certainly helps, as they have now seen the true nature of the waste. They can certainly do things to reform their departments potentially, and do some surface things to help.

But you can only go so far in Washington before you hit the sludge of Congress. Which always ends up being the problem and is the issue with DOGE.

"Unless Congress is actually going to move on these things...not much is going to change," says Antoni. "We have found hundreds of billions of dollars we can cut government inefficiency...yet Congress has only enact about 8 or 9 billion dollars of that."

As of October, DOGE was estimated to have saved $214 billion through various avenues. It amounted to roughly $1,3000 saved per each of the 161 million taxpayers in the U.S. They also roughly reduced the national debt by about 0.54 percent.

If we have to rely on Congress for change though, we will be waiting a long time. Nothing moves fast or efficiently in Washington. But Antoni adds that, the more the fraud is exposed, the more action will be taken.