It's only been about a week since President-elect Trump officially tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to trim the bloat from the federal government when he returns to the White House, and the entrepreneurs are wasting no time determining how to make deep cuts.
Musk and Ramaswamy penned an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, laying out their vision for DOGE. Here are five takeaways from the piece about how the agency will operate:
Musk and Ramaswamy noted they have already been working with the Trump transition team to "hire a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America."
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"This team will work in the new administration closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget," the billionaires, who are volunteering their time to the project, wrote. "The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings"
The DOGE leaders said their decisions would be guided by the U.S. Constitution as well as two Supreme Court decisions handed down during the Biden administration, which, together, suggest that a slew of federal regulations on the books actually exceed the authority Congress has granted and should be scrapped.
"DOGE will work with legal experts embedded in government agencies, aided by advanced technology, to apply these rulings to federal regulations enacted by such agencies," the op-ed states.
"DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission. This would liberate individuals and businesses from illicit regulations never passed by Congress and stimulate the U.S. economy."
Musk and Ramaswamy say that, with fewer regulations needed, agencies will not need as many federal employees. So, many positions will be eliminated, and DOGE aims to assist affected workers to find positions in the private sector.
"DOGE intends to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions," they wrote.
"The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited."
The DOGE co-chiefs say they are focused on cutting government spending through their initiatives.
They plan to take aim at billions "in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended."
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"Our top goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026 — the expiration date we have set for our project," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote. "There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud."
