By Jack Phillips
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stated over the weekend that agencies have terminated more federal contracts worth as much as $2.8 billion.
In a post on social media platform X on July 12, DOGE, a task force established by President Donald Trump in January, stated that “over the last week, agencies terminated 230 wasteful contracts,” resulting in savings of $407 million.
Those included a contract from the Department of Agriculture for a “Mexico sustainable landscapes consultant” and a Treasury Department contract for “mentoring, evaluation, learning specialist services in Haiti,” according to the DOGE post. The post included what appears to be screenshots of the programs’ descriptions.
Earlier in July, the DOGE website released an update stating that the task force had saved approximately $190 billion, which it says amounts to about $1,180 per taxpayer. So far, the Department of Health and Human Services, the General Services Administration, the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Labor have initiated the most cuts, according to the site.
DOGE’s database shows that roughly 11,700 contracts have been terminated across all federal agencies, with an estimated savings of about $44 billion. At the same time, roughly 15,500 federal grants worth some $44 billion have been slashed.
The update from DOGE comes as the Senate is slated to vote on spending cuts this week that would claw back $9.4 billion in public media and foreign aid spending. Senate Democrats are trying to kill the measure but need a few Republicans to join them.
Trump has asked lawmakers to rescind nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it’s due to receive during the next two budget years.
On July 10, the president warned that he would withhold his backing for any Republican lawmaker who opposes the rescissions package, which also includes cuts to foreign aid.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump said in a post on social media platform Truth Social.
Trump went on to say that “any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”
The White House has said that the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense.
The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of its budget to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming.
The July 12 update from DOGE suggests that the organization is still engaged in activities to identify and root out what it deems to be fraud, waste, and abuse within the federal government, following the departure of former White House special government employee Elon Musk from the administration in late May.
Musk, who had effectively served as a spokesperson and leader for DOGE during his time in the White House, has since had a falling out with the Trump administration and Republicans, announcing earlier this month that he would form his own political party.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
