Elon Musk has returned to Tesla’s Texas headquarters and his DOGE analysts are no longer constant visitors camping out at federal agencies.

But that doesn’t mean Elon’s efforts didn’t help change the culture of waste, fraud and abuse that is endemic inside the Beltway.

Federal contractors – private “Beltway Bandit” companies that lap up more than $800 billion a year – are still getting rich, but the pace has slowed down and so has the hiring. Axios reports that “job postings by these employers plummeted this year” at the top 25 federal contractors.

Job listings from federal contractors – the biggest firms are Lockheed Martin, UnitedHealth, Booz Allen and Honeywell – are down 15% since President Trump took office. Compare that to job postings at all employers, which are down only 0.5%.

Score one for Elon’s DOGE team.