Laura Barron-Lopez:
So, even though Elon Musk promised some $2 trillion in savings, the cuts are actually much smaller than that. They’re closer to about $30 billion annually. That’s according to Jessica Riedl. She’s a former budget chief on Capitol Hill and is a conservative.
And also the layoffs at the IRS could actually impact the overall savings that DOGE says that it’s made. Now, when you look at Musk and DOGE’s work to date, that includes either laid off or fired 260,000 people, 12 percent of the federal work force. Many of those firings have been challenged in court. Some of them were rehired.
And the hardest hit included USAID, Voice of America, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Most of the DOGE team is expected to stay on. That’s according to Musk and to President Trump. And Trump and President Musk have also said that they expect more cuts to come from the DOGE team.
