Thread by @Fahrenthold

THREAD:

@doge's "Wall of Receipts" is one month old this week. But the largest item on that list has always been wrong.

Here's how:

When the Wall of Receipts was first posted, @elonmusk's group said its largest savings was an $8 billion cut at ICE.

But that was a typo in government records. DOGE reduced the savings to $8 million, then zero.

@elonmusk Then @doge said its largest savings had come from terminating a USAID contract worth $655 million.

But they had triple-counted the same cancellation, and also greatly over-estimated what that cancellation was worth. That savings, too, was eventually reduced to $0.

@elonmusk @DOGE Next, @doge said its largest savings came from cancelling a $1.9B contract at the IRS.

But that contract had been cancelled when Joe Biden was president. DOGE later deleted the claim. nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/…

After that, DOGE said its largest savings came from cancelling a USAID contract worth $596 million.

But there, as in other places, they had missed a key distinction in govt. contracting. While the government's spending *limit* was $596M, it had not actually promised to spend anywhere near that much. This savings from this cut, also, was later revised to $0.

Then, on March 3, DOGE said its biggest savings came from a cancelled USAID grant, worth $1.9 billion.

But the recipient of the grant told us that was also wrong -- in two ways. The grant wasn't cancelled. And, even if it was, the money they were owed had already been paid.

Actual savings: $0 again. nytimes.com/2025/03/13/us/…

Then, on March 5, @doge brought back a claim it had previously deleted. Once again, it said its largest savings came from cancelling the same $1.9 billion IRS contract.

Which, again, had actually been cancelled under President Biden.

That's where we stand today, one month after @doge began posting its wall of receipts.

For all that time, the biggest "receipt" on the wall has always been wrong.

Read more of our coverage of DOGE's struggle with errors here: nytimes.com/2025/03/13/us/…

We've heard from readers who ask "Why point out DOGE's mistakes? Don't you want them to find waste & fraud?"

What I reply:

Whether you support this group's mission or you don't, why would anybody want DOGE to be relying on data that's full of errors?