But a recent estimation of DOGE’s overall impact indicated any savings it found did little, if anything, for the deficit.
“You don’t regret that people might have lost important income…to support their lives?” one attorney asked Cavanaugh regarding the grant cancellations.
“No. I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from $2 trillion to close to zero,” said Cavanaugh, who is also the founder of AI-powered accounting firm Flow Finance.
“Did you reduce the federal deficit?” the attorney asked.
“No, we didn’t,” Cavanaugh replied.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
“We do need to have our government work better, but the approaches that have been adopted so far are taking us in the exact wrong direction,” Stier said. “The end result will be that the American public will be holding the bag as Elon Musk goes back to his private enterprises.”
“When we look back historically, we’re going to see that the gutting of the bureaucracy that keeps the government running, that keeps the country functional, will be the trigger that collapses America,” the employee said.
“We probably have some skills that we now need to hire back, quite frankly,” Kupor said. “There’s no question anytime you do restructurings … sometimes you over-restructure, sometimes you under-restructure.”
