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DOGE, the agency that shook up the federal bureaucracy in the early months of President Trump’s second term with its efforts to slash spending and headcount, is no more, the administration says.
“That doesn’t exist,” Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about the status of the Department of Government Efficiency, the news service reported this morning.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close confidante of Trump’s at the start of his second term, initially steered DOGE, although he and Trump subsequently had a falling out and Musk returned his focus to the private sector. The program, which still had eight months left on its mandate, was officially slated to end next summer, Reuters notes. But, according to Kupor, DOGE is no longer a “centralized entity,” and the government-wide hiring freeze that accompanied its efforts is over.
The department’s legacy will likely be a point of debate for years to come, including in the next election cycle. Initially focused on reducing the size of the federal government—as well as slashing red tape and incorporating AI into the bureaucracy—critics argued that DOGE was overstating its savings and overstepping its authority in its efforts to gut federal agencies, push out workers, and eliminate contracts.
According to Reuters, Kupor’s statements about DOGE no longer existing as a discrete entity are the Trump administration’s first formal acknowledgement that the program has been prematurely ended, although Trump has already been referring to the agency in the past tense. The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, has now taken over many of the same cost-cutting and headcount-reducing efforts, according to Kupor himself as well as documents reviewed by Reuters.
“At least two prominent DOGE employees are now involved with the National Design Studio, a new body created through an executive order signed by Trump in August,” Reuters reported in its exclusive story. “That body is headed by Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, and Trump’s order directed him to beautify government websites.”
In a post on X, Kupor said that DOGE no longer has “centralized leadership” under its previous organizational structure, the USDS, but that “the principles of DOGE remain alive and well,” including de-regulation, anti-fraud efforts and efficiency.
“DOGE catalyzed these changes,” Kupor wrote. “The agencies along with [OPM] and [the White House Office of Management and Budget] will institutionalize them!”
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Brian Contreras
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