Elon Musk Gets His DOGE

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has spent the week since his election victory filling out his cabinet and key policy personnel, with a few surprising names thus far. One particular announcement on Tuesday, however, was less surprising.

“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”),” Trump wrote in a statement shared on his social media platforms. DOGE—a thinly veiled reference to one of Musk’s favorite meme cryptocurrencies—has been formed to slash government spending and drastically reduce federal budgets.

“To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform,” Trump added. 

Musk, the world’s richest man, had floated the idea of creating such a department as early as September, and he repeatedly mentioned it while supporting Trump on the campaign trail. At a preelection rally in New York City last month, Musk said that he would cut as much as $2 trillion from the federal budget. (The U.S. government spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024.)

There is little clarity on how Musk might do so without cutting key government expenditures such as social security and defense spending, and he appeared to acknowledge that the strategy might cause severe short-term economic upheaval.

A major union that represents more than 800,000 federal workers sounded the alarm in a statement on Tuesday, warning that the proposed level of cuts would harm U.S. taxpayers.

“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,” said Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

“Budget cuts of this magnitude, coupled with the massive tax reductions Trump has said he will implement, will affect vital programs that tens of millions of Americans currently rely on for their financial security and their health and safety,” Kelley added. “This includes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, food assistance for low-income families, veterans’ benefits and health care, and so much more.”

On Tuesday, following Trump’s announcement, Musk wrote on X (the social media platform that he also owns) that DOGE decisions will be “posted online for maximum transparency.” He also solicited public feedback on what to cut and said the department will have a “leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars.” 

Efforts to cut U.S. government spending are not new, with similar initiatives having taken place under former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. There also already exists an entire government agency, called the Government Accountability Office, that “examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, non-partisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and work more efficiently.” It has existed for more than 100 years.

“GAO has cooperated and shared information in the past when presidential or congressional commissions have been established to address the federal government’s programs and operations, as well as fiscal and other challenges,” said Gene L. Dodaro, the U.S. comptroller general and head of the GAO, in a statement to NBC News on Tuesday. “We will take that same approach with any new commissions formed and stand by ready to assist the new Congress and the Executive branch.”

Ramaswamy, who will co-chair DOGE with Musk and briefly ran against Trump before suspending his campaign earlier this year, seemed to acknowledge this in a post on X. “Politicians have talked for a long time about cutting the size of government. But when they get inside, they go native,” he wrote. “If we’re ever going to crush the bureaucracy, it’s going to happen from the outside.” 

Ramaswamy also hit back against Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren when she pointed out the irony of having two people run a department focused on efficiency, saying: “The stuffed suits have no idea what’s coming.”