One way to tell if all this effort is working, is if the US govt borrowing requirement starts going down.

The borrowing requirement = amount spent less the amount of taxes raised.

You can shrink it by either cutting spending (as D.O.G.E. is attempting to do), or raising tax.

Here is the page you need to keep an eye on https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/reports-statements/financial-report/current-report.html

Beware! The biggest spending item is social security pension payments, followed by debt interest.

So you can cut spending by $26 billion, but if international investors are spooked by talk of tariffs and demand a higher "risk premium" interest rate when the US Treasury conducts a bond auction, the higher interest payments can wipe out your savings, and you are back to square one. That's why govts trying to cut spending hold back on starting wars on other fronts.