Golden Finance reported that according to the Financial Times, the latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department showed that Musk's extremely active efficiency improvement measures failed to prevent U.S. federal spending from rising to a record $603 billion last month, highlighting the difficulties the Trump administration has encountered in reducing the size of the government. The ministry of efficiency, led by Musk, claimed to have saved more than $100 billion, but in the first month of the new administration, spending in only a few departments fell. Compared with the same period last year, spending increased by US$40 billion year-on-year, an increase of 7%. The new data came after Musk and its members penetrated into several government agencies, including state and health departments, as well as multiple departments of the Treasury Department. Tens of thousands of workers were suspended or fired, and thousands of government grants and contracts were cancelled. Musk repeatedly claimed that the government's efficiency ministry is expected to save $1 trillion worth of funds from the annual federal budget, and said the plan is currently being cut at a rate of $4 billion a day. However, the monthly fiscal statements for February showed that almost no major categories of expenditures achieved a significant decline. Finance officials noted that the Ministry of Education cut $6 billion in spending.