WASHINGTON — As cuts to the federal workforce are announced, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is claiming its saving over $100 million for the federal government in D.C., Maryland and Virginia alone, according to a new website called the “Wall of Receipts.”
But the website is hard to navigate and even more difficult to verify. And AP reporting found that nearly 40% of the contracts that have been canceled nationwide by DOGE efforts are really not saving the government any money at all.
Here in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area, one major part of those alleged savings comes from canceling the leases for multiple properties where cut-down federal agencies had offices and facilities.
In northern Virginia, DOGE claims to have cut $42,618,070 by canceling five leases for government facilities and offices, amounting to a total of 164,042 square feet. Though some of the canceled leases are labeled on the website simply as "multiple," the labeled leases say they are for the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Undersecretary for Management, Mine Safety Health Administration and the Bureau of Industry and Security. It shut down offices in Arlington, Lorton and Herndon. One lease cost more than $15 million.
In D.C., they claim to have cut $48,504,754 by canceling 10 leases for government facilities, amounting to a total of 1,352,647 square feet. Some leases say they belong to the Department of Education, Secret Service and Federal Trade Commission, among others. The biggest lease that DOGE claims it canceled is for another office for the DHS Office of the Undersecretary for Management. That lease cost nearly $14 million.
Finally, in Maryland, the agency says it cut $18,816,082 by canceling five leases for government facilities, amounting to a total of 177,366 square feet. Offices were shut down in Silver Spring, Hyattsville, Derwood, Jessup and Riverdale Park.
So far, DOGE says it has cancelled more than 3 million square feet in leases across the DMV area — allegedly cutting costs by nearly $110 million.
Despite all of these numbers, because many of the entries on the list have no labeled agency and have no specific addresses, it’s hard to fact check whether these leases have really been canceled and if so, if they really cost as much as the website claims.
