Musk & DOGE budget cuts begin: Will they hit their target?
Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are in focus this week as DOGE claims it has already cut $55 billion in spending in the first month of the new Trump administration. Where are the areas DOGE is cutting and are they hitting their targets? We get into it. On this week’s episode of Capitol Gains, anchor Madison Mills, Washington Correspondent Ben Werschkul, and Senior Columnist Rick Newman break down the data and budget cut numbers coming from the Department of Government Efficiency and explain why they are likely not going to hit their savings goals. “Elon Musk originally said he wanted DOGE to come up with $1 trillion in annual savings. He backtracked a little bit. The target is now between $500 billion and $1 trillion [per year],” Newman explains. “You're never in a million years going to get that number by cutting DEI training. If you fired everybody in the federal workforce and nobody worked for the government, you still wouldn't come close to $500 billion. The only way to get that is [cutting funds from] Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans benefits and defense.” Pangea Policy Founder Terry Hains joins the show to provide further insight on DOGE, Trump’s future tax bill, and whether or not the commander in chief will uphold his tax cut promises to Americans. Watch more episodes of Capitol Gains here. Capitol Gains is Yahoo Finance’s unique look at how US government policy will impact your bottom line long after the Presidential election polls have closed. This post was written by Lauren Pokedoff
