In the wake of Elon Musk’s departure from the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, the public has been given a rare, unintentional glimpse into the complexity, scale and irreplaceable function of the federal government. Despite bold initial goals of $2 trillion in savings, the verified result was far less impressive, with watchdog estimates around $175 billion — a number that itself remains contested.

What Musk and DOGE underestimated wasn’t inefficiency but intricacy. In trying to slash and burn their way to headlines, they accidentally demonstrated just how much precision and institutional understanding is required for real reform.

If DOGE (or its successor) wants to truly save billions, it should come from cutting with a scalpel, not a machete. And there is no better place to begin than with the institutional culture of year-end federal spending.

Across nearly every agency, directors of financial operations and other officials with budget authority are incentivized — formally in performance plans and informally through managerial culture — to spend down nearly every dollar they are given, usually to within 1 percent of their total annual budget.

This isn’t corruption; it’s conditioning. These people are operating under a double bind. On one hand, they must not........

© The Hill