Musk and Ramaswamy Will Lead Federal Spending Cuts Effort

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr posted his support Wednesday of President-elect Donald Trump's announcement that Space-X CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” “Delete, delete, delete,” commented Carr on a post from Musk about the new department.

“Slapping the bureaucracy on the wrist won’t solve the problem; the only right answer is a massive downsizing,” said Ramaswamy in a post on X that was shared by Musk, who added, “This is the only way.” The abbreviation for the new department’s title appears to be a reference to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk has endorsed in the past.

DOGE is tasked with providing advice and guidance from outside government that will drive “large scale structural reform” and “create an entrepreneurial approach to government” in partnership with OMB and the White House, the announcement said. "If we’re ever going to crush the bureaucracy, it’s going to happen from the outside," Ramaswamy said.

DOGE’s work is set to conclude by July 4, 2026, the announcement said. Musk has said his goal is cutting $2 trillion in government spending, and said in a post Tuesday that all DOGE’s actions will be put online for transparency and that it will have “a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars.” Budget cuts “of this magnitude, coupled with the massive tax reductions Trump has said he will implement, will affect vital programs that tens of millions of Americans currently rely on for their financial security and their health and safety,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a news release Wednesday.

Lawmakers had mixed reactions to the DOGE announcement Wednesday. “I’m all for streamlining and cost-saving, but the devil is always in the details,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in an interview. Specific details will determine how much oversight Congress will have over the program, and the department should be subject to the same scrutiny as other government programs, Blumenthal said. The senator said he will hold accountable anyone who “abuses power.”

Musk is “the right guy,” and having Ramaswamy working with him is the “right move," said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he thinks it’s a "great" idea: "I’m open to suggestions from anybody, but [Musk] has obviously built some very successful companies. ... Maybe he can do what the bureaucracy will never do themselves."

Former President Ronald Reagan pursued a similar program in 1981 when he signed executive order 12291, which made targeting waste, fraud and abuse a “high national priority." Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., noted Reagan's efforts in a conversation with reporters Wednesday. “I’d be delighted on any recommendations on waste, fraud, abuse, duplicative stuff," he said.

"I think [Musk] could be very helpful in trying to reform the government,” said Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who called Musk a “friend.”

“Elon Musk is not an elected official,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. “As far as I know, he doesn’t know anything about the government except being the recipient of some multi-billion-dollar government contracts. So it’s an odd choice, but we’ll see what he can find." King said he anticipates conflicts of interest, noting Musk is “a major contractor” for the U.S. government. “Lots of folks are focused on this and making the government efficient, and maybe we can find some common ground,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “We’ll see how well DOGE coin does,” said Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “That’s my answer. We’ll see what he proposes.”