$101 million for DEI programs, $8 million to make mice transgender: Trump lists ‘wasteful’ spendings cut by Musk’s DOGE

US President Donald Trump on Friday bid farewell to Elon Musk, his adviser and the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and highlighted some of the achievements of the department under the billionaire.

Speaking alongside Musk, Trump said the billionaire had led the “most sweeping and consequential government reform effort in generations.”

He claimed that Musk is “really not leaving” and “he’s going to be back and forth” to keep tabs on what’s happening in the administration.

“We’re totally committed to making the DOGE cuts permanent and stopping much more of the waste in the months that come,” Trump said.

Praising Musk’s work at the government, Trump also presented a ‘receipt’ of some of the cuts that Musk and DOGE identified till date.

Trump highlights DOGE cuts

During his press conference, Donald Trump said Elon Musk and DOGE had identified several instances where federal money was going to ‘waste’.

He listed examples of what he called “countless wasteful and unnecessary contracts” that DOGE has cancelled.

These include: $101 million for DEI programs at the Department of Education, $45 million for DEI scholarships in Burma, $42 million for social and behavioral change campaigns in Uganda, $20 million for producing an Arabic version of Sesame Street, $59 million for hotel rooms for illegal immigrants in New York City and $8 million for research to make mice transgender among others.

Elon Musk’s tenure at DOGE

Elon Musk initially claimed DOGE would slash at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Four months into its efforts, DOGE now estimates it has saved $175 billion.

But the details it has posted on its website, where it gives the only public accounting of those changes, add up to less than half of that figure.

Elon Musk said that his departure from the White House does not mark the end of DOGE and that much of his cost-cutting team will remain in place and he will continue to give advice to President Donald Trump.

Musk said he was confident that “over time” the Department of Government Efficiency will reach $1 trillion of savings he promised.