Why DOGE Failed
Reason quoted CEI’s expert on DOGE
Misunderstanding How the Federal Budget Works
“DOGE failed because they got the order of operations wrong,” said Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
By targeting the federal payroll before reducing federal agencies’ regulatory powers and eliminating programs, DOGE limited its effectiveness at saving money, Young argued. He pointed to the fact that the federal civilian payroll costs less than $300 billion annually while CEI estimates that the federal regulatory burden is a hidden tax costing well over $1 trillion.
“We’re left instead with the worst of both worlds. Agencies still impose the same heavy regulatory burdens, but in some cases now lack the personnel to administer them. That means delays and paralysis for the private sector, while the quality of governance gets even worse,” he said. “It’s one more example of this administration’s laziness. They go for the quick headline-grabbers, then call it a day.”
“They were more interested in generating easy headlines by defunding small-ball costs like [diversity, equity, and inclusion] contracts, Politico subscriptions, foreign aid, and government employees,” said Riedl. “MAGA voters loved the culture war bait, but that is not where the money is.”
Musk was able to cut costs and reduce the employee headcount when he took over Twitter, and he likely thought a similar approach could work in Washington, said David Ditch, a senior fiscal policy analyst at the Economic Policy Innovation Center. It did not work out that way.
“The federal government is not a business, and the executive branch has very limited authority with respect to spending,” explained Ditch. “While there is tremendous waste and dysfunction within the federal budget, the largest problem is the government doing too many things it shouldn’t and subsidizing nearly everything under the sun. Congress has primary responsibility for the size, scope, and spending of the federal government.”
“Elon Musk had good intentions but failed by misunderstanding that large-scale federal government reform is not a prerogative of the executive,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy for the Cato Institute. Instead of trying to do everything through the executive branch, DOGE could have put together a package of budget cuts for Congress to consider—like the one that Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) asked Musk to assemble.
“In an attempt to act unilaterally, DOGE limited itself in scope and sabotaged its own chances of success,” said Boccia.
“Cancelling non-priority grants and laying off workers only gets you so far, given the federal government primarily funnels money from some to others,” said Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute.
Even when it comes to things the federal government does clearly control, DOGE has done a poor job of constraining spending, said de Rugy. She suggests that DOGE should focus on government subsidies to private businesses and look at wasteful grant programs delivering billions of dollars to state governments.
“They were all over the place, overpromising things they couldn’t deliver on,” said de Rugy. “They had no theory about how to proceed.”
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