• Elon Musk told reporters DOGE had been "effective" but "not as effective as I'd like."
• He was speaking to reporters in the White House on Wednesday.
• DOGE has saved $160 billion and cut 1% of the workforce, but faced resistance, he told reporters.

Elon Musk is tempering expectations for his cost-cutting DOGE initiative, acknowledging it hasn't lived up to his $2 trillion ambition.

"In the grand scheme of things, I think we've been effective. Not as effective as I'd like. I think we could be more effective. But we've made progress," Musk told reporters during a Q&A session in the White House on Wednesday.

Several outlets reported the comments, including the Associated Press, USA Today, and Axios.

He said that so far, DOGE — short for the Department of Government Efficiency — has cut $160 billion in federal spending and eliminated 20,000 government jobs, or about 1% of the federal workforce.

But Musk said resistance from within the administration, public backlash, and protests, including vandalism against his EV company Tesla, have made the initiatives difficult to execute.

"Being attacked is not super fun," Musk said. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."

While DOGE was initially planned to end in 2026, Musk told reporters it may run through the end of Trump's term in 2028.

"I think so," Musk said of a potential extension. "It's up to the president."

Musk, who has faced criticism for splitting his time between Washington and his companies, told Tesla investors last week he plans to scale back his time at the White House to one or two days a week after his EV maker's earnings per share plunged 71% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.

Yet, Musk maintained he believes DOGE's long-term savings potential could still hit $1 trillion.

"It can be done," he said. "But it requires dealing with a lot of complaints."

"DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism," he said. "Buddha isn't alive anymore. You wouldn't ask the question: 'Who would lead Buddhism?'"

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he's on the same page as Elon Musk when it comes to cutting waste.
• Bessent told Bloomberg the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency can make "gigantic savings."
• He also dismissed concerns about DOGE staff's access to the Treasury's payment systems.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Podcasts on Thursday that he and Elon Musk were "completely aligned" when it came to waste.

"Elon and I are completely aligned in terms of cutting waste and increasing accountability and transparency for the American people," he said.

"I believe that this DOGE program in my adult life is one of the most important audits of government, changes to the government structure we have seen," Bessent added. "I think there are gigantic savings for the American people here."

Since President Donald Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency and brought it inside the White House by executive order, his administration has taken swift actions to roll back regulations and cut spending.

Trump's administration has implemented a hiring freeze across federal agencies. It has also canceled multiple government contracts, including those related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, and is moving forward with plans to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.

The policies have sparked a slew of lawsuits, legal challenges, unions opposition, and public protests outside federal offices.

Federal worker unions sued the Treasury Department on Monday, accusing the agency of granting Musk access to private sensitive data.

On Tuesday, Trump said he gave DOGE staff "read-only" access to the Treasury's payment systems. These systems control trillions of dollars worth of payments, including Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and veterans' benefits.

In his interview with Bloomberg, Bessent dismissed concerns, saying that DOGE staff had "read-only" access and could make "no changes."

He described the group as an "operational program to suggest improvements."

"These are highly trained professionals, this is not some roving band running around doing things," he said.

Bessent spoke shortly after Musk wrote in an X post that "Billions of taxpayer dollars to known FRAUDULENT entities are STILL being APPROVED by Treasury."

Musk added, "This needs to STOP NOW!"

Bessent also referred to the Grace Commission Report, a study conducted during the Reagan administration that proposed major reforms across various departments and agencies in order to reduce the US national debt in 1984.

"There were some great suggestions that came out of that," he said, but "nothing happened."