Should Musk Testify Under Oath? Two House Democrats Ask After GAO Finds DOGE Savings of $92 Million, Not $10.5 Billion
Two House Democrats have asked for Elon Musk and DOGE officials to testify under oath about DOGE's savings numbers, after a GAO audit found that DHS's claimed $10.5 billion in contract savings netted out to about $92 million. For federal employees who spent 2025 justifying their jobs in five bullet points, the request puts the other side of the ledger on the record.
The Audit Behind the Request
We covered the underlying report yesterday. The Government Accountability Office reviewed the 438 contracts DHS terminated or scaled back last year under DOGE's mandate. DHS publicly reported that those terminations could avoid more than $10.5 billion in costs. GAO's math, after accounting for the costs of cancelling, came to about $92 million in net savings. That is under one percent of the public figure.
How did the numbers diverge so sharply? According to GAO, DHS counted the maximum amount every contract could ever have paid out. That is a ceiling, not a savings figure. And roughly $1.7 billion of the terminated IT work was simply purchased again through other governmentwide contracts.
DHS's position, for the record, is that it ended contracts that were no longer mission-critical and describes the terminations as responsible stewardship. GAO's report says DHS will not fully achieve the claimed amount.
What the Two Lawmakers Are Asking For
The request is for testimony under oath from Musk and DOGE officials about how the savings figures were calculated. It is important to be precise about what this is and is not. It is a request from members of the minority, not a subpoena. Whether a hearing happens is a decision for the committee majority.
Why This Belongs to Federal Employees
Federal employees lived the other side of the efficiency campaign. The "fork in the road" email. The email demanding five bullet points of weekly accomplishments, followed by a post from Musk suggesting that silence would be treated as resignation. Probationary employees terminated by the thousands, some of them rehired once agencies realized which positions guarded the nuclear stockpile. All of it was presented as efficiency.
An independent audit of the savings that justified those actions is directly relevant to the people who absorbed them. If the numbers were a ceiling rather than a savings, that is worth knowing, and it is worth having on the congressional record.
The Practical Takeaway
GAO's DHS report is the first in a series. Reviews of DHS grants and of the 2025 workforce reductions are still to come. If you want those numbers examined with the same rigor, your representatives are the people to tell. Oversight requests like this one exist because constituents and committee members ask for them.
Keep a copy of the GAO report. If your agency cites DOGE-era savings as a justification for an action that affects your position, the underlying arithmetic may deserve a closer look.
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Legal Disclaimer: This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Federal employment situations are fact-specific and time-sensitive. Please consult a qualified federal employment attorney about your specific situation. You can contact Southworth PC at attorneysforfederalemployees.com.