Trump announced the Department of Government Efficiency and appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead it.
Last week, President-elect Trump announced the formation of the “Department of Government Efficiency”, or DOGE. Despite being called a department, the organization is not a government agency. Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be at the helm of DOGE.
Within their new roles, Musk and Ramaswamy will recommend ways for the federal government to reduce wasteful spending and become more efficient. Trump said that the advisory board will “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government”. Its goals are to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies”.
While the operational specifics of the Department of Government Efficiency are still unclear, the group has posted some aspects of the government they plan to advise reform of on social media.
In a recent post on X, DOGE said, “In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code. Today, there are more than 16 million words. Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year. This must be simplified.”
In another post, DOGE said that the Pentagon failed its seventh audit and cannot fully account for $824 billion and asked the question, “How much do we not yet know about?” Vivek Ramaswamy reposted it, saying, “Full transparency is essential. The first step to solving a problem is to name it, unsparingly.”
Conversations about cutting federal agencies have surrounded DOGE since its announcement. On X, Ramaswamy said, “There are 1,200+ programs that are no longer authorized but still receive appropriations. This is totally nuts. We can & should save hundreds of billions each year by defunding government programs that Congress no longer authorizes. We’ll challenge any politician who disagrees to defend the other side.”
In Donald Trump’s statement announcing the Department of Government Efficiency, he said, “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 – A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”
