Growing Showdown Over DOGE's Efforts to Downsize Federal Government

For decades, government watchdogs and budget oversight experts have been trying to get someone — anyone — to listen to them about the need to root out waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending, frustrated that their calls for systemic change were going unheard by Washington.

Many were cautiously optimistic when President Donald Trump empowered billionaire Elon Musk to bring improper spending under control and to modernize outrageously outdated federal payments systems.

But in interviews with half a dozen of these watchdogs, most said this isn’t what they had in mind.

The breakneck upheaval of federal agencies spearheaded by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has needlessly politicized the issue and could make it harder to enact the real changes needed to root out improper spending, five good-government experts said.

“Elon Musk is saying we’ve got shocking amounts of fraud, and you’re right, we do. No one’s really cared until now,” said fraud prevention expert Linda Miller, a former senior staff member for Congress’ independent Government Accountability Office during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

“But the examples they’re bringing are silly, made-for-TV red meat, made for people to be amazed and horrified and shocked,” Miller continued, pointing to some diversity, equity and inclusion-related arts projects on the White House’s list of objectionable U.S. Agency for International Development programs, some of which weren’t actually funded by the agency. “It makes the government sound like it’s a mockery.”

Trump defended DOGE’s efforts during a press briefing with Musk this week, saying without specifics that the group has unearthed “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.