Overview
- OPM director Scott Kupor told Reuters the department "does not exist" even though the executive order establishing it was set to run through July 2026.
- The administration cites absorption of functions by OPM, while reporting shows spending-reduction efforts continuing through the federal budget office, including an order to fire 4,000 workers during the shutdown.
- DOGE claimed $214 billion in savings, well short of Musk’s revised $1 trillion goal, with CBS and Politico analyses flagging exaggerations and limited transparency that hinder independent verification.
- An estimated 211,000 federal employees had lost their jobs by Nov. 18, prompting protests and lawsuits, and the Supreme Court allowed the agency to withhold its strategies from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
- The initiative concentrated cuts on ideologically favored targets, with USAID largely dismantled and foreign aid programs slashed for uncertain fiscal benefit.