Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have been appointed by former President Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The duo announced their plans for reform in three main directions: streamlining regulations, reducing federal manpower, and cutting expenses.
On Wednesday, they published a column in the Wall Street Journal, where they emphasized that the growing bureaucracy imposes significant direct and indirect costs on taxpayers. They intend to serve as “external volunteers” and collaborate with Trump’s transition team to identify and hire a streamlined “small-government reform team” that will closely work with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the new government.
During the Biden administration, the Supreme Court passed two judgments in cases such as West Virginia v. EPA and LoperBright v. Raimondo, ruling that government departments cannot regulate without congressional authorization. The latter case saw the overturning of the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine, which had granted federal agencies broad power in interpreting regulations when there was ambiguity.
Musk and Ramaswamy stated that the DOGE team would cooperate with legal experts within the government to identify administrative regulations beyond congressional authorization. They plan to present a list of such regulations for Trump to suspend through executive action, initiating review and repeal procedures.
The duo believe that reducing unnecessary regulations provides a legitimate reason for a significant downsizing of federal bureaucracies. They aim to determine the “minimum number of employees required for an agency” to fulfill its legal and constitutional duties, making enforcement more efficient with fewer personnel and preventing the need for excessive regulation.
After the reduction of federal employees, they advocated for respect towards those affected and proposed helping them transition to the private sector or incentivizing early retirement. While traditional constraints prevent the firing of civil servants by the president and political officials, they noted the possibility of reducing workforce size through specific orders targeting teams rather than individuals.
They outlined a novel approach to reducing federal manpower by compelling employees to return to the office, predicting a wave of voluntary resignations if staff were required to work in-person five days a week. They asserted that if federal employees were unwilling to return to the office, taxpayers should not be funding them, especially considering the privilege of remote work during the pandemic.
They plan to focus on targeting funds not reauthorized by Congress, amounting to approximately $500 billion, including $530.5 million for public broadcasting, $1.5 billion for international organization grants, and $300 million in expenditures allocated to progressive groups.
With the results of the presidential election and the presence of six conservative Supreme Court justices, Musk and Ramaswamy see this as a prime opportunity for the Department of Government Efficiency to overhaul the federal government. They are prepared to confront entrenched interests in Washington and are confident in their ability to prevail against such “deep-rooted interest groups.”