Current Affairs

Musk and Ramaswamy are eyeing government cuts, but DOGE can only recommend


President-elect Donald Trump has appointed businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory panel to support cutting waste, reducing regulations and shrinking the federal workforce.

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can only make recommendations, so its authority is limited. But Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy are talking about cutting $2 trillion from the $7 trillion annual budget, and Mr. Trump is listening.

Why did we write this?

The Department of Government Efficiency is actually an advisory body. President-elect Donald Trump is an ally, but efforts to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy will face some hurdles.

Some Republicans say this is long overdue. Some Democrats and civil servants worry that this could destroy crucial institutional expertise.

DOGE, which expires in less than two years, can do its job in several ways. The first is to recommend that Trump take executive action, for example, to order the repeal of certain regulations. But this process can take more than a year, and people can file a lawsuit to keep the regulation in place.

It can also work with Congress to try to make changes. But Republicans’ narrow majority in the House of Representatives means they may need Democratic support.

Or it could do things like recommend that Mr. Trump implement a mandatory five-day work week to incentivize federal employees to quit.

The $2 trillion goal represents nearly a third of the federal budget, and even many of Mr. Musk’s supporters question whether it is within reach.

Shortly after winning the US presidential election, Donald Trump announced the creation of the Government Efficiency Administration. Led by entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, DOGE will have the mission of incentivizing government downsizing by recommending where to cut waste, trim regulations, and trim the federal workforce.

Some Republicans say this is long overdue, while some Democrats and civil servants worry it will dilute the institutional expertise necessary for effective government services.

The word “management” is a misnomer – the DOGE would be an advisory body, lacking direct authority. The plan is to work with the Office of Management and Budget and make recommendations to the president and perhaps to Congress. But its co-chairs appear to have ambitious plans: Mr. Ramaswamy said that if the department had a mascot, it would be a chainsaw.

Why did we write this?

The Department of Government Efficiency is actually an advisory body. President-elect Donald Trump is an ally, but efforts to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy will face some hurdles.

How much has government grown in recent decades?

The number of people employed by the federal government has not changed much since World War II, although employment funded by federal contracts and grants has grown. Congress has also created a host of new agencies since then, and the Code of Federal Regulations has swelled from just under 10,000 pages in 1950 to 185,984 pages in 2019.

has the national debt Almost doubled Since 2015 it now stands at $35 trillion, or 122% of the gross domestic product of the United States. The debt grew by about $7.8 trillion in Mr. Trump’s first term, and is expected to grow by a slightly higher number by the time President Joe Biden finishes his term. However, experts caution that these numbers could reflect pre-existing laws and conditions outside the president’s control.

Many federal employees have not returned to their offices since the pandemic, and as of the summer of 2023, the government was still paying for 17 agency headquarters that were at 25% capacity or less, according to the Government Accountability Office. a report. Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy argue that unelected bureaucrats, and the size of government, make federal spending unaccountable to voters — a situation they described as “antithetical to the founders’ vision” in The Wall Street Journal. Editorial.

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