Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were officially designated as the co-leaders of President-elect Donald Trump’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency‘ (DOGE) last week. Their main focus is to cut down federal agencies, which they view as excessive and ‘antidemocratic‘.
“Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but ‘rules and regulations’ promulgated by unelected bureaucrats,” write the two appointed men who are tasked with cutting trillions from the federal budget and rewriting government operations.
The Plan for DOGE
Their strategy for DOGE involves ‘executive action‘ leveraging two recent Supreme Court rulings — West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency and Loper Bright v. Raimondo. These rulings suggest that many current federal regulations exceed the authority that Congress has granted under the law. Musk and Ramaswamy plan to:
- Work with legal experts embedded in government agencies
- Use advanced technology to apply these rulings to federal regulations enacted by such agencies
- Present this list of regulations to President Trump
- Pause the enforcement of these regulations and initiate the review and rescission process
Role of Advanced Technology in DOGE
One aspect that stands out in their plan is the use of ‘advanced technology‘. While the details of this technology are not explicitly specified, it will aid DOGE in the process of reviewing federal regulations.
“DOGE will work with legal experts embedded in government agencies, aided by advanced technology, to apply these rulings to federal regulations enacted by such agencies.”
The Potential Impact of DOGE’s Plan
Musk and Ramaswamy predict that their plan will result in ‘mass head-count reductions‘ of government employees, freeing individuals and businesses from regulations never passed by Congress. They also suggest that Trump could impose rules like requiring federal employees to return to the office five days per week, which could lead to ‘voluntary terminations’.
“If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.”
DOGE’s Ultimate Goal
The ultimate goal for Musk and Ramaswamy is to ‘eliminate the need‘ for DOGE’s existence by July 4th, 2026. They list a few federal expenditures that could be on the chopping block, including $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations.
Source: The Verge
