Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk at an October campaign rally for Donald Trump, who has since tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head an effort to slash the federal government. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Mitchell Miller
President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency pledges to “send shockwaves” through the U.S. government and eliminate massive waste — as well as the jobs of federal workers.
The department — which is not actually part of the government — is being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two entrepreneurs who share Trump’s view that the federal bureaucracy must be slashed.
Trump said the commission will provide recommendations and work with the White House “to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”
Musk has suggested that DOGE (a nod to cryptocurrency Dogecoin) will seek to cut as much as $2 trillion in federal spending.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in a statement.
The announcement has been accompanied by a lot of hype. Trump has said it could lead to innovation with the impact of the Manhattan Project, a secret government program that led to the development of the first atomic bomb.
Doesn’t Congress have the ‘power of the purse?’
The president, of course, has the power to set his political agenda.
Trump has indicated that DOGE will work with the Office of Management and Budget, as well as the White House to make changes he said the country has “never seen before.”
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But there are huge hurdles to overcome — both practical and political — if savings are to come at the level Musk has discussed.
The most obvious is that roughly a third of federal spending goes to Medicare and Social Security, which Trump has said he won’t cut.
In addition, 13% of the 2023 federal budget went to national defense, which Trump actually increased during his first term.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he’s always open to new ideas. But he is skeptical of statements suggesting that sweeping cuts can be implemented without the critical role of Congress.
“No unilaterally appointed group of self-proclaimed experts is going to be able to, themselves, decide to shed the government of federal employees,” Kaine said. “Congress has got the power of the purse.”
Kaine points out that many federal agencies were established by statute and can’t be simply eliminated with a recommendation.
He noted that Trump and many Republicans have called for years to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.
“So go ahead and file your bill, your bill to abolish the Department of Education if that’s what you think, and let’s see how you fare over here,” Kaine said. “I think that you’re going to find out that you’re not going to fare very well.”
GOP has the political trifecta
Republicans are happy to point out they now control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They feel it is time to strike while the political iron is hot and implement changes they have sought for a long time.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, welcomes DOGE.
“Taxpayers have taken it on the chin,” Comer said on the House floor. “They expect good government. They expect efficiency and transparency with their hard-earned tax dollars that they send here in Washington, D.C. They have not been getting that.”
Comer said he’s looking forward to working with the government efficiency “task force” that said it can potentially provide significant savings of tax dollars.
No unilaterally appointed group of self-proclaimed experts is going to be able to, themselves, decide to shed the government of federal employees. Congress has got the power of the purse.
– Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
Congressional Republicans have long called for cuts to various federal agencies and programs. But not on the scale Musk has suggested, which effectively would mean close to a third of the federal government.
The federal budget is well over $6 trillion and there are more than 400 federal agencies. Musk has suggested the agencies could be cut to under 100, but that would require the approval of Congress.
Should federal workers worry?
Musk has posted on his social platform ‘X’ that DOGE is seeking, “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”
He also said they will not be paid. More than 2 million federal workers, however, rely on their paychecks and there is concern their jobs could be put on the chopping block.
Ramaswamy, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination this year before bowing out to Trump, has been a critic of federal employees who do not come into the office five days a week.
“If you literally just mandated that they have to show up for work, Monday through Friday, a radical idea, a good number of them would quit that way,” he said recently on the “The Tucker Carlson Show.” Ramaswamy argues that close to 25% of the federal workforce would leave their jobs if that became a requirement.
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, issued a warning about DOGE plans. AFGE is the largest federal employee union.
“Millions of Americans should brace for massive cuts to benefits and services they rely on for their survival under plans to target government spending and operations,” Kelley said in a statement.
But for wide-ranging cuts to take place, they will have to be approved by Congress.
Taxpayers and federal workers will see if that starts in January when the 119th Congress is sworn in. The Department of Government Efficiency, meanwhile, has been given a deadline of July 4, 2026, to complete its work.
– As part of Maryland Matters’ content sharing agreement with WTOP, we feature this article from Mitchell Miller. Click here for the WTOP News website.