Can DOGE cut $2 trillion in federal spending? Not directly, but it has Trump鈥檚 ear.
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Caitlin Babcock Staff writer
Soon after winning the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency. Spearheaded by businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, DOGE will have the job of spurring a downsizing of government by recommending where to cut waste, slash regulations, and trim the federal workforce.
Some Republicans say this is long overdue, while some Democrats and civil servants worry it would gut the institutional expertise crucial for effective government services.
The word 鈥渄epartment鈥� is a misnomer 鈥� the DOGE will be an advisory body, lacking direct power. The plan is for it to work with the Office of Management and Budget, and to make recommendations to the president and possibly to Congress. But its two co-chairs appear to have ambitious plans: Mr. Ramaswamy said that if the department had a mascot, it would be a chain saw.
Why We Wrote This
The Department of Government Efficiency is actually an advisory body. President-elect Donald Trump is an ally, but the effort to cut the size of the federal bureaucracy will face some hurdles.
How much has the government grown in recent decades?
The number of people employed by the federal government hasn鈥檛 changed much since World War II, although federal contract- and grant-funded employment has grown. Congress has also created a swath of new agencies since then, and the Code of Federal Regulations has swelled from just under 10,000 pages in 1950 to 185,984 in 2019.
The national debt has since 2015 and now sits at $35 trillion, or of the United States鈥� gross domestic product. Debt grew by about $7.8 trillion in Mr. Trump鈥檚 first term, and it is projected to have grown by a slightly higher number by the time President Joe Biden finishes his term. Experts caution, however, that these numbers can reflect preexisting laws and circumstances outside a president鈥檚 control.
Many federal workers have not returned to their offices since the pandemic, and as of summer 2023, the government still was paying for 17 agency headquarters that were at 25% capacity or less, according to a Government Accountability Office . Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy argue that unelected bureaucrats, and the government鈥檚 size, make federal spending unaccountable to voters 鈥� a situation they called 鈥渁ntithetical to the Founders鈥� vision鈥� in聽a Wall Street Journal聽
What does DOGE hope to do?
Mr. Musk has suggested that $2 trillion could be cut from the nearly $7 trillion federal annual budget. He and his co-chair would have less than two years to complete their work: The department has a cutoff date of July 4, 2026, so as not to become another example of bloated government. The DOGE鈥檚 proposed cut is ambitious enough that even many of Mr. Musk鈥檚 supporters question if that鈥檚 within reach.
The plans to attack government spending are broad. DOGE鈥檚 X account has highlighted spending on items it views as irresponsible, such as holograms of dead comedians and the construction of an IHOP in Washington. The co-chairs have also suggested ideas for slimming the number of federal workers, with Mr. Ramaswamy saying that he expects certain agencies to be 鈥渄eleted outright.鈥� Other stated targets range from Medicare payments to Planned Parenthood funding.
Politicians have their own suggestions for cuts. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst sent the co-chairs a detailed 鈥渕enu鈥� ahead of Thanksgiving that included cuts to government leasing for vacant office buildings and money spent creating money (she found it costs the government three cents to make a single penny). Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders expressed hope that the DOGE could help thin defense spending.
What do Musk and Ramaswamy bring to this initiative?
Mr. Musk鈥檚 businesses have a mixed track record of efficiency. His social media platform X has seen a 75% decrease in value since he laid off 6,000 workers, or roughly 80% of the staff, two years ago. His electric vehicle company Tesla鈥檚 profits have been up and down recently. Mr. Musk has gone toe-to-toe with the Federal Aviation Administration聽over regulations on rocket launches at his company SpaceX, which has received nearly $20 billion in federal government contracts since 2008.
Mr. Ramaswamy founded a pharmaceutical company that earned him a fortune. He , and he pledged during the 2023 campaign to cut over 75% of the federal workforce.
鈥淲e are entrepreneurs, not politicians,鈥� the two men wrote in their聽op-ed. But working with the federal government will present challenges. Given that the DOGE鈥檚 role is advisory, the co-leaders won鈥檛 be able to make the kinds of direct changes they did as CEOs. If they want to work with Congress, they鈥檒l have to win over members who may balk at spending cuts in their districts.
Still, supporters say these two executives shouldn鈥檛 be underestimated. Mr. Musk appears to have the ear of Mr. Trump, which will be crucial in converting the advisory body鈥檚 recommendations into practical change. The president-elect has invited Mr. Musk to attend high-level meetings, and he praised him during his 2024 victory speech.
How feasible are Musk and Ramaswamy鈥檚 plans?
Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy say they will present Mr. Trump with a list of regulations for the chopping block. Mr. Trump could then use executive action to order an agency to start the process to overturn that regulation. That can take over a year, involving a required analysis of the proposed change鈥檚 impact and public comment. If the change is approved, people who benefited from the regulation are likely to sue. The two co-chairs will need to 鈥渄o their homework鈥� to avoid protracted legal battles, says Susan Dudley, founder of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center.
The co-chairs say that they are relying heavily on two recent Supreme Court decisions that limit agencies鈥� ability to create and interpret regulations, which are based on statutes passed by Congress. The DOGE co-chairs hope courts will rule that regulations they target don鈥檛 have a basis in law.
The two men could try to work with Congress, which can pass laws to overturn regulations, or to change or slow down the way regulations are created. But Republicans have a slim majority in Congress, so Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy might have to develop a strategy to garner bipartisan support.
That isn鈥檛 an exhaustive list of options. For example, Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy could recommend that Mr. Trump implement a mandatory in-person, five-day workweek that could push federal employees, many of whom are still working from home, to resign. They could also move various agency headquarters out of the capital. Both are ideas that the co-chairs have recently proposed.
Editor's note: This article, originally published on Dec. 16, has been updated with the correct party affiliation for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.聽
