The demise of DOGE has been greatly exaggerated. 

Over the weekend, the Department of Government Efficiency announced that agencies have terminated and descoped '42 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $1.5B and savings of $269M, including a $1.2M Millennium Challenge Corp. DEI professional services contract for a “DCO Gender and Social Inclusion Director Full Time”."

The post came roughly a week after DOGE announced that over a three-day period, federal agencies had similarly terminated and descoped 55 "wasteful" contracts with a ceiling value of $1.6 billion, resulting in $542 million in savings. Included in those was a $47 million State Department contract for "Africa/Djibouti, Somalia armored personnel carriers and Somalia National Army crew."

As the Epoch Times notes further, as of Jan. 1, DOGE had saved approximately $215 billion through contract, grant, and lease cancellations, according to the department. Among an estimated 161 million individual federal taxpayers, DOGE has saved $1,335.40 per taxpayer.

Based on data displayed on its leadership board, the U.S. agencies that accounted for most of the savings are the Department of Health and Human Services, the General Services Administration, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Small Business Administration.

Regarding contracts, the top amounts terminated are $12.5 billion and more than $5.7 billion from the Department of Defense (DOD), nearly $4 billion from the Department of the Air Force, and $3.75 billion again from the DOD, now known as the Department of War.

As for grants, the highest value amounts canceled are $4 billion and $2.6 billion from the now-defunct United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID was dismantled by the Trump Administration on July 1, 2025.

DOGE’s latest announcement comes in the wake of large-scale government benefit fraud discovered in Minnesota, resulting in the waste of billions of taxpayer dollars, according to a Jan. 9 statement from the Department of the Treasury.

“Under Democratic Governor Tim Walz, welfare fraud has spiraled out of control,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Billions of dollars intended for feeding hungry children, housing disabled seniors, and providing services for children in need were diverted to benefit Somali fraud rings.”

Complex fraud rings in Minnesota have allegedly stolen billions of dollars from taxpayer-funded state programs, with criminals using the money to purchase residential and commercial real estate, luxury goods, vehicles, planes, international flights, and other luxury expenses, the statement said.

On Jan. 6, President Donald Trump also announced a fraud investigation targeting California.

Also, after the incidents in Minnesota, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state agencies to investigate social services for potential fraud.