Musk says he will spend more time at Tesla, but the White House expects him to continue ‘dedicating a lot of his time’ to supporting the president

Elon Musk initially vowed that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency would cut $1 trillion from the federal budget annually.

On Tuesday, Elon Musk delivered a general sense of relief to Tesla shareholders by saying he will step back from day-to-day leadership of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” the budget-cutting entity he helped launch under President Donald Trump.

“Starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to ‘DOGE’ will drop significantly,” Musk told investors on yesterday’s Tesla earnings call, adding that the “major work” of establishing the department was complete.

Tesla reported revenue and earnings-per-share figures that were lower than Wall Street expected on Tuesday, but shareholders cheered the news of Musk’s return to the company. Tesla’s stock has generally been battered since Musk started spending a large portion of his time working at the self-styled department.

But now the White House has told MarketWatch that it still expects Musk will spend a significant amount of time supporting Trump’s agenda.

“Elon didn’t say he was stepping away from ‘DOGE’ completely,” a White House official told MarketWatch on Wednesday. “He will still be here, working, dedicating a lot of his time to ensuring the success of the president. So Elon’s not going anywhere, and ‘DOGE’ isn’t going anywhere.”

The announcement comes with “DOGE” yet to deliver on its lofty promises. Musk initially vowed the team would cut $1 trillion from the federal budget annually. But earlier this month, in a White House cabinet meeting, he revised that estimate sharply downward to $150 billion during fiscal 2026, which begins in October.

Uncertainty remains as to how Musk and company are measuring up to savings targets. Reporters and watchdogs say “DOGE” has made it nearly impossible to fact check its self-reported “wall of receipts,” where it catalogs its claims of savings.

It’s difficult to verify the claims on the website because the entity removed federal identification numbers in the website’s source code that would enable outsiders to identify the grant and contract cancellations in question.

There are also claims on the website that some say are incorrect. One of the largest cuts asserted by the so-called department is a canceled $1.9 trillion contract for IT modernization. But the contractor told the New York Times in February that the award was actually canceled in November, under President Joe Biden.

The Federal Procurement Data System, a database of federal procurement projects, indicates that no money was ever spent on this grant, despite authorization by the IRS to spend $1.9 billion over seven years.

The White House official told MarketWatch that the contract was only paused by the Biden administration due to a dispute between potential awardees and that the Trump administration’s decision to cancel it fully saved taxpayers $1.9 billion.

Boosters of the efficiency effort say that the savings will accrue over time and that “DOGE” has shone a light on wasteful government spending, which will take time and effort to eliminate.

“Elon set the process in motion and moved the agencies to act on a lot of ideas that have been around for many years, like consolidating agencies to create more efficiencies,” Tom Schatz, president of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, told MarketWatch.

He pointed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement Tuesday of a reorganization of the State Department, which Rubio said was, in its current form, “bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition.”

The plan includes an 18% reduction in the department’s total number of bureaus and offices, 700 job cuts and a plan to reduce staffing by 15% over a number of years.

Supporters also highlight the Musk-led entity’s campaign to cancel low-value federal contracts and grants and claim the effort has yielded tens of billions of dollars in savings. “DOGE” says it has canceled more than 8,000 contracts and 10,000 grants, many of which are tied to diversity, equity and inclusion programs or to foreign aid.

The administration will aim to codify some of these cuts into law through what’s known as a rescissions package, with a goal of cutting $9.3 billion in spending on foreign aid, public media and other programs.

The rescissions process, passed into law by the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, enables a president to propose budget cuts. Congress then has 45 days to approve them in a filibuster-proof process that currently would require only Republican votes to pass. The package is expected to be voted on early in May, according to Punchbowl News.

Musk’s major contribution to the project could simply be the publicity he is able to bring to a topic — the federal budget — that doesn’t excite many Americans, according to Damien Brady, vice president of research at the National Taxpayers Union.

“Some of their claims have been a little bit exaggerated, but they’ve done a really good job of bringing to the public’s attention some longstanding issues,” including duplicative offices across different agencies and outdated IT systems at critical agencies like the Treasury Department.

Brady said he does have concerns that sweeping layoffs of federal workers at agencies like the IRS and at inspector-general offices could ultimately backfire — potentially costing taxpayers more than they save if critical oversight and revenue-collecting functions are weakened.

“There’s plenty to be concerned about when it comes to federal spending,” he said, “but the government has to be able to recruit and retain talented employees.”