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You are here: Home / Budget & Taxes / Why Elon Musk Hasn’t Come Close to $1 Trillion in Cuts

Why Elon Musk Hasn’t Come Close to $1 Trillion in Cuts

April 13, 2025 at 7:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“After several months of cutting government contracts, grants, leases and workers, Elon Musk seems to be realizing what budget nerds have long known: His oft-repeated goal of cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget through executive action alone is extremely difficult,” the New York Times reports.

“In a cabinet meeting this week, he appeared to offer a more modest target, saying he expected to achieve savings of $150 billion. There was always a good reason the original $1 trillion goal was out of reach: The part of the budget that Mr. Musk has been mining for savings was expected to total only $950 billion next year.”

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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