Federal Spending Rises by $154B Despite DOGE’s Cost-Cutting Efforts

According to an analysis of Treasury Department daily financial statements, federal spending has increased by $154 billion since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, despite his Department of Government Efficiency.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that after reviewing the Treasury statements, DOGE, under the leadership and guidance of Elon Musk, a tech billionaire who is a key Trump advisor, claimed to have cut $150 billion in spending through changes made to contracts, job cuts, and the elimination of diversity programs. However, these changes did not affect the bottom line of spending.

Taxes and tariffs have increased the government’s revenue, but not enough to control the increase in spending.

The federal government spent $4.9 trillion in the past fiscal year, or 73%, on interest payments for the national debt and mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, Social Security payments this year are $32.7 billion more than they were in 2024.

Costs are higher because of a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5% and 1.3 million additional beneficiaries who signed up in the last year.

Trump has assured that Social Security benefits are safe. DOGE claims it has eliminated fraudulent claims and cut staff to reduce costs for the agency.

Since Trump’s election, Medicare and Medicaid spending has risen by $29 billion.

As healthcare costs rise and enrollment increases, the programs are spending more.

In the fiscal year that just ended, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid accounted for 43% of all government spending.

Musk warned that if the cost of interest on the national debt is not checked, it could cover the entire federal budget.

Due to the rising interest rates and growing national debt, the federal government has paid $25.5 billion in additional interest since Trump’s return to office.

In the meantime, DOGE is fighting in court against its efforts to terminate at minimum 25,000 federal probationary workers and to cut foreign aid funds.

The federal salary payments also increased by $2.8 billion this year. This is partly due to a pay increase of 2% that Biden approved and that went into effect on January 1st.

Many federal employees have accepted buyout offers but remain on government payrolls until September.

Martha Gimbel is the executive director of the Budget Lab and co-founder at Yale. She said that the buyouts could have increased costs as many employees had accepted the buyouts in order to receive their paychecks.

DOGE tried to reduce costs by cutting the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Supreme Court denied the request by the administration to defer payments to the aid program. In recent weeks, the spending has returned to levels seen in 2024.

Treasury reports show that there were lower spending levels this year.

The Transportation Security Administration cut travel and training costs by $22 million this year and delayed spending on new uniforms. At the Education Department, which is being closed, spending fell by $4 billion.