Testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Financial Services, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said there were no current plans to publish anything official about what happened while the Department of Government Efficiency was active.
During the hearing on June 30, subcommittee chair Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) asked, “is there something that you’re going to present or is there somewhere we can find what exactly DOGE accomplished as far as reductions in dollars spent, people at agencies, or whatever? Is there going to be some documentation of what took place?”
The DOGE website went dark last month. And the president’s proposed budget has no funding for the agency.
“We have no plans to do kind of a closing DOGE report,” Vought responded. “We’re always happy to give you our assessment of that work. I think it made some really important strides. You all passed many of the reductions that — DOGE found just through the normal appropriations process when you ended the year so much lower than the year before. We did some of that in the rescissions package. And so many of — the fruits of their labor are sprinkled all across the government, but I’m always happy to work with you on what you feel like you need.”
President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order established DOGE as a temporary initiative scheduled to end on July 4, 2026.
Although reports indicated that DOGE had largely ceased operating as a centralized organization months before its official end date, administration officials maintained that its work continued through various federal agencies.
In the meantime, several former DOGE leaders transitioned into permanent roles within the federal government.
By 2026, DOGE had shifted away from the aggressive cost-cutting campaign that characterized its early months. Rather than pursuing large-scale staffing and budget reductions, the DOGE increasingly focused on improving government technology and citizen-facing services, reflecting a mission more closely aligned with the former U.S. Digital Service.
By the time DOGE approached its scheduled end date, its influence had diminished considerably from the outsized role it played at the start of Trump’s second term.
Under the leadership of Elon Musk, the initiative set an ambitious target of reducing federal spending by $2 trillion.
While DOGE later reported roughly $215 billion in savings, independent analysts and watchdog groups questioned whether those figures accurately reflected realized budget reductions.
The initiative also reshaped the federal workforce, contributing to the departure of more than 260,000 employees through layoffs, buyouts and early retirement programs. However, several agencies later acknowledged that some workforce reductions had gone too far, prompting efforts to restore staffing levels in critical areas.
Critics argue that DOGE’s rapid cost-cutting strategy often prioritized headcount reductions without fully accounting for operational needs.
During the hearing, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) cited cases in which agencies were forced to reverse staffing cuts after determining that essential expertise had been lost.
“I think part of the concern with respect to DOGE, and I think most of my colleagues would agree, cutting employees that aren’t needed is fine, but it’s clear that what DOGE did was they advocated cutting a lot of people, a lot of federal government employees who were doing great work,” Ivey said.
“They didn’t know what they were talking about when they advocated for those cuts, then they quickly realized that they had to bring people back. And that really devastated the individuals’ lives who were caught up in that scenario,” he said.
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