Trump suggests DOGE could be shuttered earlier than expected

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could end after 130 days, months ahead of schedule, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday.”A lot of the people that are working with DOGE are the secretaries—you know, the heads of the various agencies—and they’ve learned a lot,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “There will be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work and do it, as we say, with a scalpel.”

The comments follow growing criticism of DOGE’s leader Elon Musk

whose cost-cutting proposals have drawn backlash from Republican voters. Musk serves as a Special Government Employee, limiting his tenure to 130 days.
The programme was meant to run until 4 July 2026, near the mid-term elections. Trump called it the “Manhattan Project of our time” in November when announcing Musk would lead efforts to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion. Musk defended his work last Thursday on Fox News alongside seven DOGE senior assistants. “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars worth in that time frame,” he said. “Our goal is to reduce the waste and fraud by $4 billion a day, every day, seven days a week—and so far we are succeeding.”

Critics have disputed many of DOGE’s claimed savings, including an alleged $50 million payment for condoms to Hamas. Musk also sparked controversy by calling Social Security “the biggest ponzi scheme of all time.”

The early closure would come as Trump balances DOGE cuts affecting Republican areas with proposals for higher tariffs that have worried financial markets.

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