FACT-CHECK: Did Barack Obama Appoint Joe Biden To Run “DOGE” Back In 2011?

It looks like DOGE wasn’t an original idea after all….

Sorry Elon!

Yes, it’s true.

Back in 2011, Barack Obama launched the “Campaign to Cut Waste” and it looked and sounded a whole lot like Elon’s DOGE.

This is pretty incredible, and as the post says below, this is real.   It’s not AI or a Deep Fake.

Here is Barack Hussein Obama in 2011 appointing Joe Biden to run his version of DOGE:

OMG this is not AI, it's real. It's a must watch.

2011. Obama announces a DOGE department and puts Joe Biden in charge of it! 😂

"Nobody messes with Joe." 🤣 pic.twitter.com/obGsYHzmMr

— MAZE (@mazemoore) March 14, 2025

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions.

And that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about.

But what should be easy is getting rid of the pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn’t benefit anybody.

Waste we should be getting rid of even if we didn’t have a deficit.

Sure, some of these cuts aren’t that big. But no amount of waste is acceptable.

Not when it’s your money. Not at a time when so many Americans are already cutting back.

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Just as families are living within their means, government should too.

Did you know the federal government pays for a website devoted to a folk music ensemble made up of forest rangers?

They’re called the Fiddlin’ Foresters. I’ll put their music on my iPod, but I’m not paying for their website.

And there are hundreds of similar sites that we should consolidate or just get rid of.

By the way, you’re not only paying for websites no one needs, you’re paying for thousands of buildings all across the country no one uses.

For the last decade, the government’s owned a massive and completely empty warehouse in the middle of Brooklyn, for example.

Now, the government hadn’t been able to sell this building and others like it because of red tape and Washington politics that held things up for years.

But we’re finally cutting through all that and plan to get rid of these buildings in the months ahead.

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We need to step up our game. We need to go after every dime.

We need to make government work for you.

That’s why starting today, I’ve asked the Vice President to lead a renewed effort to hunt down misspent tax dollars in every agency and department of this government.

We’re calling it the Campaign to Cut Waste. And I know Joe’s the right man to lead it.

Because nobody messes with Joe.

There’s a new standard by which the government is going to function from this point on.

The American people are entitled to transparency.

Look, a lot of this depends on new sophisticated methods, but it also, we know, depends on relentless focus on making this a priority.

Focus that can’t be delegated. We’re holding ourselves accountable, and we’re deeply committed and focused on making government function better.

We’re not just eliminating fraud and waste.

We hope to be instilling an entire new culture that not only our administration but every succeeding administration will, in fact, pursue.

We’re going to give you the government you expect and…

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FACT-CHECK: Did Barack Obama Appoint Joe Biden To Run “DOGE” Back In 2011? pic.twitter.com/CM5t4WgqnL

— Noah Christopher (@DailyNoahNews) March 15, 2025

Fact-checked TRUE:

Yes, it’s true that President Barack Obama tasked Joe Biden with leading an initiative aimed at reducing government waste, fraud, and abuse, and some have noted similarities between that effort and the current Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In June 2011, Obama launched the “Campaign to Cut Waste,” an initiative designed to “hunt down and eliminate misspent tax dollars in every agency and department across the Federal Government.” As part of this effort, Obama signed Executive Order 13576, establishing the Government Accountability and Transparency Board to enhance transparency and address inefficiencies in federal spending. Vice President Joe Biden was appointed to oversee this campaign, with a focus on holding Cabinet agencies accountable for cutting waste. Biden announced measures like suspending the production of surplus Presidential dollar coins and cracking down on health care fraud, claiming the recovery of $5.6 billion in fraud across government programs in 2011 alone.

The Campaign to Cut Waste shares some conceptual overlap with DOGE, which was launched in January 2025 under President Donald Trump to slash federal spending by targeting waste and bureaucracy. Both initiatives emphasize reducing improper payments, improving efficiency, and saving taxpayer dollars. For example, Obama’s campaign built on efforts to curb improper payments (estimated at $50 billion in savings by 2012) and introduced tools like payment recapture audits, while DOGE has targeted $2.7 trillion in improper payments since 2003, as highlighted in a February 2025 hearing. Posts on X and various analyses have pointed out this parallel, with some suggesting Obama’s program was a precursor to DOGE, though implemented with different scope and execution.

However, the two differ significantly in scale, structure, and political context. The Campaign to Cut Waste was an initiative within the Obama administration, not a standalone department, and relied on existing agencies and a new oversight board. DOGE, led by figures like Elon Musk, operates as a distinct task force with a broader mandate and a more aggressive, publicized approach, claiming over $1 billion in savings from cutting unnecessary contracts by early 2025. Critics of Obama’s effort, including some X posts, argue it lacked seriousness—citing Obama’s own quip about Biden’s ability to “f*ck things up”—while DOGE’s proponents highlight its tangible early results. Whether the Campaign to Cut Waste “sounded an awful lot like DOGE” depends on perspective: both aimed to tackle similar issues, but DOGE’s ambition and independence set it apart. The historical record confirms Biden’s role in Obama’s program, and the resemblance isn’t unfounded, even if the outcomes and methods diverged.

Even more here:

Presidents Obama and Biden clearly love the work @DOGE is doing pic.twitter.com/05Quru9H8O

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 15, 2025

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