Spending rose by $40bn compared with the same month last year on a like-for-like basis, a 7 per cent increase.
The new data comes after Musk and his emissaries at Doge have infiltrated several government agencies, including the state and health departments, and various arms of the Treasury. Tens of thousands of workers have been suspended or dismissed and thousands of government grants and contracts have been cancelled.
Musk has repeatedly claimed that Doge is on track to make $1tn worth of savings from the annual federal budget, and said the initiative was identifying cuts at a rate of $4bn a day.
But the Monthly Treasury Statement for February showed that few large categories had achieved significant decreases.
“Doge savings are so small as not to be identifiable in monthly spending totals,” said Jessica Riedl, an economic policy expert at the conservative Manhattan Institute think-tank, who has been analysing the initiative’s efforts.
“Some 75 per cent of all federal spending goes to social security, Medicaid, Medicare, defence, veterans and interest — and none of that has been touched,” said Riedl. “There is zero indication that such savings have actually been identified.”
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