DOGE Timeline: Government Layoffs, Efficiency and Technology Goals, Target Milestones, Lawsuits and Reality Checks

Welcome to earlier DOGE status updates.

February 11 - Trump and Musk in Oval Office: Here's a complete video, care of Bloomberg, that captures comments from Trump and Musk discussing the DOGE effort with reporters:

February 11 - Executive Order: Trump signed an Executive Order that gives DOGE more authority to reduce the size of the federal workforce, The Wall Street Journal reported. Moreover, the order directs agencies to restrict hiring to essential positions, with some exceptions. Critics such as United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) allege that DOGE essentially is shutting down the federal government without the authority to do so.

February 11 - Musk in the Oval Office: During an Oval Office press briefing, Trump and Musk pressed forward with their DOGE priorities, and Musk said America must cut federal expenses in order to remain solvent s a country. Asked about some misleading statements about government waste, Musk conceded that "some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. Nobody is going to bat 1,000."

February 11 -DOGE Caucus Concerns: Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), a member of the DOGE Caucus in the House, said members of Congress have so far been excluded from discussions about ways to eliminate waste and fraud in the federal government, The Hill Reported based on a CNN interview.

February 11 - Iowa Governor Executive Order: Governor Kim Reynolds signed an executive order launching Iowa's DOGE Task Force. The task force, The task force, led by Sukup Manufacturing Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Emily Schmitt, will pursue three goals: Maximizing return on taxpayer investment, leveraging emerging technology, and further refining workforce and job training programs, the governor's office said.

February 9 - DOGE's Next Moves: President Trump predicted DOGE will find hundreds of billions in waste in the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD), FOX News reported.

February 9 - DOGE Criticizes Courts: United States VP JD Vance and Musk led a conservative chorus criticizing a federal judge who restricted the ability of DOGE to access the Treasury Department payment system, an early sign of tensions ahead between the White House and the courts, The Wall Street Journal reported.

February 9 - Some Republicans Concerned About USAID: Some congressional Republicans who for years wanted to curb USAID’s activities are now watching its sudden collapse with alarm, saying they worry about the fate of programs they see as playing a critical role in protecting U.S. national security and countering China, The Wall Street Journal reported.

February 8 - DOGE Targets Department of Education: Members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team have obtained “administrator” email accounts at the Department of Education, NBC News reported.

. February 8 - University of California Students File Suit: University of California system students have filed a lawsuit to block Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from gaining access to student information. The move comes after a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury Department data, which included social security numbers and financial data.

February 7 - Attorneys General File Lawsuit: A coalition of mostly Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit on February 7, 2025 to stop DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems used to process trillions of dollars in payments. The lawsuit involved 19 states attorneys general.

February 7 - DOGE Team Member Previously Fired From Internship: Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of DOGE, was fired from a previous internship after he was accused of sharing information with a competitor, Bloomberg reported.

February 6 - State Attorneys General Coalition Plans Lawsuit: Roughly 13 to 14 state attorneys general plan to file a lawsuit to stop DOGE's access to sensitive personal information.

February 6 - Department of Energy Access: Energy Secretary Chris Wright granted a DOGE representative access to the Energy Department’s IT system on February 5, 2025, CNN reported. The access arrived despite objections from members of the department’s general counsel and chief information offices, the report said. The DOGE representative apparently is Luke Farritor, a SpaceX intern, multiple reports said.

February 6 - USAID and Small Businesses: DOGE's effort to gut the USAID department threatens billions of dollars in aid for U.S. farms and small businesses, The Washington Post reported.

February 6 - Federal Data Sent to Microsoft Azure for AI Analysis: DOGE team members are feeding U.S. Department of Education data into an AI system hosted by Microsoft Azure, The Washington Post reported. The effort involves a hunt for potential spending cuts, but data privacy experts are concerned about the strategy, the report said.

February 6 - DOGE Team Member Resigns: A DOGE staffer has resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about his alleged connection to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics, The Journal reported.

February 6 - Read-Only Treasury System Access: A judge approved a temporary agreement that allows two Musk allies to retain read-only access to payments system containing the personal and financial data of millions of Americans, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the agreement prohibited the two men, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, from sharing sensitive Treasury data with anyone outside the agency. Shortly after the ruling, Elez resigned amid questions about previous social media activities.

February 6 - Resignation Deadline On Hold: A judge paused today's deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer while more proceedings on the program’s legality play out, CNN reported.

February 6 - Federal Government Resignations: More than 40,000 federal workers have raised their hands to resign, putting the Trump administration at risk of falling short of its target for slashing the government through voluntary measures, The Wall Street Journal reported. The resignation offer, designed to pay departing employees through September 2025, has a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on February 6, 2025.

Continue to next page for DOGE status updates from February 5, 2025 and earlier.