The Department of Government Efficiency has reportedly ceased to exist as an “entity,” months ahead of its planned 2026 termination.
President Donald Trump’s effort to cut government waste, which was headed by Elon Musk, was scheduled to end in July 2026. However, according to a report by Reuters, many of those employed by DOGE have transitioned into new roles within the administration, and several of the functions have been absorbed by the Office of Personnel Management.
When asked about the existence of the cost-cutting department, OPM Director Scott Kupor told Reuters, “That doesn’t exist,” adding that it’s no longer a “centralized entity.”
“The agency, set up in January, made dramatic forays across Washington in the early months of Trump’s second term to rapidly shrink federal agencies, cut their budgets, or redirect their work to Trump priorities. The OPM, the federal government’s human resources office, has since taken over many of DOGE’s functions, according to Kupor and documents reviewed by Reuters,” the outlet reported.
“Trump administration officials have not openly said that DOGE no longer exists, even after Musk’s public feud with Trump in May,” Reuters noted. “Trump and his team have nevertheless signaled its demise in public since this summer, even though the U.S. president signed an executive order earlier in his term decreeing that DOGE would last through July 2026.”
Some saw this in a positive light.
DOGE Isn’t Gone—It Just Won.
Central DOGE closed today, 8 months early. Victory lap: its teams are now permanently embedded across every agency and OPM via the U.S. DOGE Service. Waste-cutting is now forever.
$200B+ saved and counting—that’s equivalent to the full lifetime…
— Melissa Murray (@SaysMissy) November 24, 2025
Kupor called out Reuters in a post on X, noting how his comments had been “spliced” to make an attention-getting headline.
“The truth is: DOGE may not have centralized leadership under @USDS. But, the principles of DOGE remain alive and well: de-regulation; eliminating fraud, waste and abuse; re-shaping the federal workforce; making efficiency a first-class citizen; etc. DOGE catalyzed these changes; the agencies along with @USOPM and @WHOMB will institutionalize them!” he wrote, referring to the OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Good editing by @reuters – spliced my full comments across paragraphs 2/3 to create a grabbing headline The truth is: DOGE may not have centralized leadership under @USDS. But, the principles of DOGE remain alive and well: de-regulation; eliminating fraud, waste and abuse;…
— Scott Kupor (@skupor) November 23, 2025
Referring to a recent executive order from Trump, Kupor wrote in a blog post that its aim is to “institutionalize the process of refocusing the federal workforce.”
“For most of this year, the government has been operating under a series of hiring initiatives. Most notably, the president set a target of four reductions for every one new hire into government. We exceeded this goal – the government hired roughly 68,000 people this year, while approximately 317,000 employees left the government,” he wrote.
The annual headcounts will ensure “the government has the right talent focused on the key priorities of the administration and that we are eliminating wasteful taxpayer expenses in areas that are inefficient, no longer required, or in direct contradiction of administration priorities,” Kupor noted. “Simply put, we want agencies to focus their headcount resources on the most critical objectives that deliver maximum value to the taxpayer.”
Reuters reported that several officials who once worked for DOGE have now taken up positions with the State Department, White House Budget Office, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Naval Research. Even Musk, who had a public falling out with Trump earlier this year, exited in May and seems to have since patched things up with the president.
“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. That body is headed by Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, and Trump’s order directed him to beautify government websites,” Reuters reported.
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told the outlet that “President Trump was given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government, and he continues to actively deliver on that commitment.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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