Elon Musk vows DOGE a ‘long-term enterprise’ as he gears up to step away

The billionaire CEO highlighted the importance of rooting out waste and fraud in the federal government and monitoring it in the coming months and years.

“It’s a long-term enterprise because if we take our eye off the ball, the waste and fraud will come roaring back,” Musk told Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime.

“We’re trying to have it be such that the funding is removed, the grants are gone. There’s a lot of work required to restart the waste and fraud,” the Tesla CEO added.

Musk’s time as a special government employee (people who work for no more than 130 days in any 365 consecutive days) runs out at the end of May. He has even said his work with DOGE would “drop significantly” in May as Tesla’s earnings and stock suffered during the first few months of 2025.

He said during a Wednesday cabinet meeting at the White House that DOGE has saved $160 billion and bid farewell to the officials. It’s “been an honor to work with your incredible Cabinet,” Musk told Trump at the White House on Wednesday. “I would just like to say thank you to everyone, It was an honor to work with you, so thank you for everything.”

Trump said during the meeting that Musk is “invited to stay as long as you want.”

The Tesla CEO said last week that his work with the Trump administration would to a “day or two per week” in May. The New York Post reported Tuesday that Musk was no longer working out of the West Wing.

Musk’s $160 billion estimate is far below the $1 trillion cut he promised in January, and far lower than the $2 trillion number he floated in the fall.