𝕏 owner Elon Musk and ex-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are joining forces at the command of President-elect Donald Trump to head the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The duo penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, detailing how and why they’ll be working to help the American people by ensuring the federal government is run more efficiently.
“Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government. That isn’t how America functions today. Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but ‘rules and regulations’ promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year,” the opinion article began.
Now, with the majority of voters choosing Trump in the 2024 election, it’s clear that the masses are ready for “sweeping change.”
Musk and Ramaswamy explained, “We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.”
They’ll be working with the White House Office of Management and Budget as well as “some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America” to get the job done.
The recent Supreme Court cases West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022) and Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024) will primarily be cited in support of Trump executive actions used to strike down various federal regulations that were never passed by Congress.
“DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission. This would liberate individuals and businesses from illicit regulations never passed by Congress and stimulate the U.S. economy,” the DOGE leaders wrote.
The op-ed continued to point out the media and Democrat politicians will no doubt cry “executive overreach” when Trump issues the slew of executive orders, but that the move will realistically be eliminating decades of executive overreach Congress never authorized as laid out in the Constitution.
“And after those regulations are fully rescinded, a future president couldn’t simply flip the switch and revive them but would instead have to ask Congress to do so,” the WSJ piece added.
Agencies will be stripped down to their minimum employee number needed to function, but employees who are let go will be provided assistance with finding a private sector job as well as potentially receiving severance packages or early retirement offers.
Some federal agencies may be relocated to cities outside Washington, D.C., and employees will be forced to work five days a week.
Right off the bat, DOGE estimates there is currently “$500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended.”
Furthermore, audits of federal agencies would bring transparency to their spending and likely expose more areas where efficiency could be increased.
While acknowledging there will be an “onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington,” the duo stated the “goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026.”
“There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud,” the department co-heads concluded their message.