Did a running "DOGE Clock" on a website that monitors the national debt say efforts to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse had already saved over $8 billion by January 22, 2025? No, that's not true: The privately run website includes a disclaimer that the DOGE Clock shows the "Real-Time Savings Objective," not actual savings. Congress has yet to pass a new budget bill.
The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on January 22, 2025.
It said:
🚨 #BREAKING: A 'DOGE CLOCK' has appeared on the U.S. Debt Clock website, and it is rapidly counting upwards. According to the clock, DOGE has saved ~$8B and counting. According to the website, the DOGE clock *is* accurate, and is based on 'real-time savings objective from reducing government waste, fraud and abuse in federal government agencies.'
Here is how the post looked at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 18:04:59 2025 UTC)
DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, was created through executive order by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, January 20, 2025 (archived here) to begin "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity." It does not specifically authorize DOGE to seek out government waste, fraud and abuse. Congress is still negotiating a new spending bill (archived here).
As of January 23, 2025, the official DOGE website consisted of one black page with no listing of accomplishments (archived here):
(Source: DOGE government website screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 16:54:57 2025 UTC)
The official X page for DOGE does include several posts criticizing various government spending, but it lists no actual spending cuts.
There is a running "D.O.G.E. Clock" included on the privately operated website US Debt Clock (archived here). The website "gives you a Real-Time glimpse of the most relevant economic data showing the financial condition of the US Federal Government, the 50 States and the World," according to its description on the Google Play store, and is not "Associated with any Government Agency," according to its About page (archived here).
The D.O.G.E Clock makes it clear the numbers are an "objective," not actual savings. Click on the D.O.G.E. Clock button, and additional details appear on the top of the website, explaining how the numbers reflect the "savings objective" of D.O.G.E., not any current savings:
D.O.G.E. CLOCK
The Department of Government Efficiency Advisory Commission - The Real-Time Savings Objective From Reducing Government Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Federal Government Agencies-
(Source: US Debt Clock website screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 18:04:59 2025 UTC)
The D.O.G.E. Clock is moving fast. The original post on X listed the savings objectives as $7,889,691,078.
(Source: US Debt Clock website screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 11:05:00 2025 UTC)
On January 23, 2025, the D.O.G.E. Clock showed savings objectives of $11,598,357,786:
(Source: US Debt Clock website screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 18:46:18 2025 UTC)
What is the source for these numbers? Lead Stories researched to find out who operates the US Debt Clock.
The Google Play Store lists Chrono Numeric Labs LLC as the company behind USDebtClock.org. According to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Chrono Numeric Labs LLC (archived here) was incorporated October 11, 2013, by Thomas Wilke of Flint, Michigan:
(Source: Michigan Department of Licensing website screenshot taken on Thu Jan 23 20:29:53 2025 UTC)
Lead Stories emailed and left voice and text messages for Wilke and will update this fact check with any response.
For more Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving the Department of Government Efficiency, click here.
For more Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving the U.S. national debt, click here.
