Since the Ministry of Governmental efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, is looking through federal computer systems to reduce the programs funded by taxpayers, the technical billionaire says his team is working to reduce $ 1 trillion of deficit.

“The general goal is to try to get a trillion dollars out of the deficit President Donald Trump With Fox News Sean Hanity.

Thousands of federal employees have been expelled and many programs and departments were closed, as the Trump administration launched its plan to reduce federal spending.

Musk said that Trump was delivered a 2 trillion dollar deficiency When he took office for the second time, he claimed that fraud and waste in the government represented many of this.

Officially, the deficit in the fiscal year was 2024 more than $ 1.8 trillion.

Does Musk have a $ 1 trillion shot of this deficit? Mathematically, yes. As a practical issue, it will be difficult.

While Musk and critics about statistics throw some points to know how the government spends $ 6.8 trillion of taxpayer money.

What does the government spend money?

The largest federal budget is directed towards mandatory spending. These programs do not need annual expenses approved by Congress. Includes:

Social Security (about 20 percent).

Medical care (about 15 percent).

Interest on federal debt (about 12 percent).

Medicaid and other mandatory health programs (approximately 11 percent).

Benefits of veteran, military and civil retirees (less than 6 percent).

Food stamps and other safety network programs (more than 5 percent).

A separate category of spending covers the estimated programs that Congress approves annually.

Ediscus spending is divided into two categories: defense and non -defense. Defense includes the army. The lack of defense includes all other federal agency, such as the departments of justice, transportation and environmental protection.

Compulsory and estimated spending budgets are not equal in size: about three quarters of federal spending comes from mandatory spending or benefits on religion.

How “mandatory” is mandatory spending?

Compulsory spending programs work on the automatic pilot until Congress passes a base and signs the president. So it is a little more protection than estimated spending, which must fight the battle in Congress every year. But regardless of the interest payments – that cannot be ignored without serious harm to the nation’s credit wall around the world – being “mandatory” does not mean that it is not surveyable.

If Congress and the president want to reduce social security benefits, the advantages of medical care, or any other mandatory program, they can.

Trump promised not to cut social security or medical care. In addition to the benefits, the combined federal spending categories represent nearly half of the total. If this promise continues, it narrows Dog’s options to reduce spending at $ 1 trillion.

Trump said in an interview with Hanity that “Midikid” will not be “touched.” If this is outside the borders, too, the options are more narrow.

What about cutting estimated spending?

Options become more difficult when it comes to appreciated spending.

The estimated spending represents about $ 1.8 trillion in 2024, approximately half of the defense and half of the lack of defense.

Trump promised to sign military financing “to break the records” in the campaign, which means an increase in the current levels.

If Trump continues, this means that the estimated spending other than defending the lack of defense will take the weight of the discounts. However, the non -estimated estimated spending amounted to about 960 billion dollars last year, which does not add up to 1 trillion target musk, even if it is reduced by 100 percent.

What does it mean to reduce unimportant estimated spending?

If Musk has dependence on non -defensive estimated spending to reach a trillion dollars of discounts, this means getting rid of everything the federal government does other than defense, mandatory programs and benefits.

Regardless of the Pentagon, there is no one or one department or agency representing more than 7.3 percent of estimated spending. The largest is the affairs of old warriors, followed by health and humanitarian services by 7.2 percent. The departments of 3 percent and 5 percent include internal security, education, housing, urban development, transportation and energy.

What about raising revenues instead of making spending cuts?

Instead of lowering spending, the deficit can also be reduced by raising taxes (or with a set of tax increases and spending cuts). But Trump promised not to do that; He pledged to sign a “large -class tax reduction of the highest -class business category.”

The practical effect of lowering taxes will be to increase the deficit, if everything remains as it is. So, if there is a tax reduction, the recommended spending discounts in Musk will work more effort to reach its 1 trillion dollar goal.

Trump has another revenue to work with: definitions. But when it comes to dealing with the deficit, the definitions face two challenges.

One of the issues is that independent estimates of possible tariff revenues are modest. The Central Right Tax Corporation estimated that the first year of definitions on China, Canada, Mexico and other countries would bring 140 billion dollars.

The other issue is that the American economy may lose enough tax revenues from the effects of customs tariffs on the reduction or wiping the gains to the Treasury in the customs tariff revenues. The Tax Corporation expected that the Trump tariff could reduce the income of Americans by approximately 1 percent, which risk producing less tax revenues.

How much can the musk save by reducing the federal workforce?

Until now, some prominent discounts have come in Trump in the federal workforce, as tens of thousands of workers have been demobilized or took acquisitions.

The federal workforce employs approximately 3 million people, or about 2.4 million people without workers’ account in the American Post service, which has aspects of the Federal Agency and a private company. The number 2.4 million does not include approximately 1.3 million active military personnel.

For civilians, the largest employer is the Ministry of Defense, followed by the Ministry of Old Warriors Affairs (about three quarters of the Ministry of Old Warriors Affairs working directly in hospitals and health clinics managed by VA). The Ministry of Internal Security is the distant third, followed by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Treasury.

Estimates have been constantly found that compensation for federal employees adds up to 6 percent of the total federal spending, or about 350 billion dollars in recent years.