Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are making it abundantly clear they will stop at nothing to slash the federal budget, even if it means weaponizing the Supreme Court in order to do so.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday, the nominated co-chairs of the soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) outlined how they intend to downsize the government, as well as the resources it provides. They want to go after the Impoundment Control Act, a law passed in 1974 that served to limit the executive branch’s control over expenditures authorized by Congress.
“Mr. Trump has previously suggested this statute is unconstitutional, and we believe the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question,” Ramaswamy and Musk wrote.
Per the pair’s vision, their intended sweeping budget reform will largely come by way of executive action, working “closely” with the White House Office of Management and Budget. They believe the large-scale reforms are possible thanks to two recent Supreme Court decisions: West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022) and Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024).
The first case ruled that federal agencies couldn’t impose regulations that would have severe economic effects without the permission of Congress, while Loper Bright overturned a landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, ceasing a mandate that federal courts defer to executive branch agencies’ interpretation of the laws they administer.
If you’re looking for specifics, the billionaires have a couple of immediate targets: They intend to slash more than $500 million a year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which funds NPR and PBS), nearly $300 million from Planned Parenthood, and “$1.5 billion for grants to international organizations.” They also suggest, in vague terms, that “entitlement programs” such as Medicare and Medicaid are on the line, though they refuse to acknowledge how much they intend to burn from the critical health care programs.
The changes will come fast and hard, according to Ramaswamy and Musk, who believe that they will be able to accomplish their goals of shrinking the federal deficit and slashing $2 trillion in spending by July 4, 2026—the nation’s 250th birthday.
“With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” the duo wrote. “We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail.”
