Elon Musk's radical cost‑cutting experiment in Washington officially ended in Washington on Saturday, when the Department of Government Efficiency he helped design was shut down on 4 July 2026, leaving behind an $11 billion gap in the US federal budget and a government now scrambling to rehire staff across key agencies.
More than a year of turmoil triggered by Musk's entry into President Donald Trump's second administration as an unpaid 'Special Government Employee,' armed with wide latitude to slash payrolls and root out what he branded waste and 'wokeness.' The Musk‑inspired Department of Government Efficiency, widely referred to by its acronym DOGE, was created by executive order with a built‑in expiry date. It has now disappeared right on schedule, but its legacy is proving much harder to erase.
