Billionaire Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new United States Department of Government Efficiency, which was created with the task of “dismantling government bureaucracy, reducing excess regulations, cutting unnecessary spending and restructuring federal agencies”. The announcement was made by President-elect Donald Trump this Tuesday (12).
During the campaign, Trump said the government efficiency effort would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments” by conducting a “thorough financial and performance audit” for the federal government. On Tuesday, Trump said the panel would partner with the White House Office of Management and Budget and said its work will be completed by July 4, 2026 — the nation’s 250th birthday.
This deadline could allow Musk to avoid not only having to officially step away from his companies — Tesla, the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, and SpaceX, which dominates the global rocket launch market — but also federal rules of conflict of interests that could have required the sale.
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But it remains unclear what the size or structure of the cabinet will be, or how Musk and Ramaswamy will carry out the drastic government reform they have promised. The effort, abbreviated as DOGE, is a play on one of Musk’s favorite internet memes, and Musk has been a supporter of the Dogecoin digital token.
In a post on his X network, he said: “All actions by the Department of Government Efficiency will be published online for maximum transparency. Whenever the public thinks we are cutting something important or failing to cut something that generates waste, just let us know!”
Musk also suggested that the panel would offer merchandise.
Musk predicted cutting at least $2 trillion from the U.S. federal budget at last month’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, although that would exceed the amount Congress spends annually on the operations of government agencies, including defense. This would likely require significant cuts to popular entitlement programs such as Social Security, the Medicareo Medicaid and Armed Forces veterans benefits.
In the last fiscal year, the government spent more than $6.75 trillion, with more than $5.3 trillion coming from Social Security, Medicare, Defense, and veterans benefits — all of which are politically troubling and notoriously difficult to cut. depending on the conviction of Congress — as well as the interest on the debt.
“This will send shockwaves throughout the system and everyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said Tuesday in a statement provided by the Trump transition effort.
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Musk, 53, saw his net worth reach $300 billion shortly after the election – the first time he surpassed that mark in almost three years. He is the only person to have a fortune exceeding $300 billion, according to the Bloomberg Wealth Index. Tesla shares, which were trading about 1.5% lower in the after-hours session before Trump’s announcement, pared losses slightly following the news.
Musk is likely to serve as a special government employee, the formal designation for individuals from outside the government brought in for short periods to lend their expertise. Ramaswamy, an Ohio businessman, made a bid for the Republican Party nomination but largely echoed and expanded Trump’s position.
Prominent allies
During his candidacy, Ramaswamy, 39, did not like to criticize Trump, praising the Republican candidate and endorsing many of the policies adopted by the new president, including reducing the size of the federal government and withdrawing from foreign alliances.
Ramaswamy has also supported ending U.S. aid to Ukraine, at one point called for the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Canada border to prevent the spread of fentanyl, and has been an advocate for the cryptocurrency sector, calling for reducing regulations and implementing drastic cuts at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
His staunch support for Trump, fueled by some disruptive moments in the Republican primary debates in which he attacked some of the president-elect’s main rivals for the nomination, has helped him build his standing among conservative voters. Ramaswamy would go on to become an ardent representative of the president-elect, earning praise from Trump.
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Although Trump ruled him out as a running mate, he considered him as a possible Cabinet pick as early as March, according to people familiar with the matter at the time.
During the campaign, Trump praised Ramaswamy as “smart” and expressed his hope that he would be part of a second term in government.
“We can put him in charge of one of these great monsters, and he will do a better job than anyone you can imagine,” Trump said at a campaign rally in October.
