SpaceX Contracts Too Vital to Be 'Eaten by DOGE'

President Donald Trump teased about ending some government contracts for Elon Musk's companies, but in terms of SpaceX contracts, most were deemed too vital to face Department of Government Efficiency cutbacks.

"DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon," Trump chided in a meeting with reporters outside the White House early this month.

Trump's White House has reportedly conducted a review of Musk's billions of government contracts, seeking to investigate them as potential areas for DOGE to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but sources told The Wall Street Journal that most the SpaceX contracts with the Defense Department and NASA were deemed too critical.

Some might still be under scrutiny, sources said.

Musk and SpaceX did not respond to the Journal's requests for comment. 

SpaceX has proved to be an industry leader in rockets, satellites, and space travel and reportedly has more than $20 billion in federal contracts for those.

Trump's first break from Musk began with the June 5 Truth Social post threatening to "terminate" government contracts with Musk over Musk and Trump's public falling out over the "one big beautiful bill." Musk wanted to cut more spending..

Just days after that, the General Services Administration's Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service, emailed Defense for an outline on all SpaceX contracts and transactions, the Journal reported. 

Gruenbaum also made similar requests on SpaceX contracts with NASA and a handful of other federal agencies, according to the report.

The spreadsheets were labeled "scorecards" and evaluated potential competitors on how well they might be able to do the job that SpaceX was doing, according to sources.

Amid the investigations, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell reportedly met with White House officials in recent weeks.

This is not the first time Musk has butted heads with the U.S. government that helps make him – at times – the richest man in the world. Musk and the Biden administration battled over North Carolina's flood response.

While SpaceX is a dominant provider of space service to the U.S., it also operates in coordination with rivals at times, too.

Also, Shotwell told an investor event last November that SpaceX earns its government's trust and contracts through executing and offering the best prices.

While Musk was operating DOGE from the White House, SpaceX pulled in a $5.9 billion contract for national-security flights in April and launched a an upgraded GPS satellite for the Space Force in May, according to the report.

SpaceX is flying a new crew to the International Space Station next week.

Musk had threatened to decommission the Crew Dragon at the height of the Trump feud, but walked it back. 

In addition to space travel, SpaceX is a global leader in communications, providing Starlink and Starshield services to the U.S. government, along with a major classified spy satellite project, the Journal noted.