President Donald Trump signed a major executive order Wednesday that significantly expanded the Department of Government Efficiency’s powers — a major bombshell in the Trump administration’s rapid attempt to bring the federal spending deficit under control.
DOGE now requires agencies to justify payments and travel expenses from federal employees, while implementing a temporary freeze on nonessential government credit cards.
The order, titled “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative,” formalizes DOGE’s relationship with federal agencies and establishes new accountability measures across the government.
“The existing system fails to safeguard taxpayer dollars or promote merit among contractors and grant recipients,” White House officials said in a fact sheet accompanying the order. “This flood of spending historically had minimal safeguards.”
Under the directive, agency heads must work with DOGE to create “a centralized technological system” to record and justify every payment issued for government contracts and grants. Agencies have 30 days to review all contracts and grants, with authority to “terminate or modify” those deemed unnecessary.
“To the maximum extent permitted by law, all credit cards held by agency employees shall be treated as frozen for 30 days from the date of this order,” the executive order states, with exceptions for disaster relief, natural disaster response, and other “critical services” determined by agency heads.
The order also implements controls on government travel, requiring written justification for federally funded trips.
“Once an agency’s system is in place, the Agency Head shall prohibit agency employees from engaging in federally funded travel for conferences or other non-essential purposes unless the travel-approving official has submitted a brief, written justification,” the directive reads.
These justifications must be posted publicly unless legally prohibited or exempted.
Law enforcement officers and agencies focused on illegal immigration, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are exempted from the order.
DOGE, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has claimed approximately $65 billion in total savings as of Tuesday. The department’s website features a “Wall of Receipts” tracking savings across categories including fraud detection, contract cancellations, workforce reductions, and regulatory changes.
“The overall goal here with the DOGE team is to help address the enormous deficit. We simply cannot sustain, as a country, $2 trillion deficits,” Musk said during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The order also directs the General Services Administration to submit a plan for disposing of unnecessary owned or leased properties as part of the broader efficiency initiative.
The executive action comes as the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget have directed agencies to submit plans for widespread federal employee layoffs by March 13, signaling the administration’s continued focus on reducing government spending and workforce size.