Official announcements or credible news reports

Trump Names Musk and Ramaswamy to Lead DOGE, Targeting $500 Billion Cuts and 75% Workforce Reduction

Nov 25, 2024, 01:54 PM

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aiming to overhaul federal agencies and streamline government operations. Musk and Ramaswamy plan to leverage recent Supreme Court rulings to reduce federal regulations and cut government spending by as much as $500 billion, with the goal of reducing the federal workforce by 75%. The duo is reportedly building a team by interviewing job candidates and consulting with experts from Washington and Silicon Valley, including Travis Kalanick and Marc Andreessen. One of their proposed measures includes enforcing a strict return-to-office mandate for federal employees, which they argue could lead to voluntary terminations and save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Maye Musk, Elon Musk's mother, commented that cutting government spending would be "quite easy." The plan also involves collaborating with Russ Vought at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to target and potentially rescind certain regulations. Senator Joni Ernst has offered support, providing a step-by-step plan to eliminate more than $2 trillion of waste. Critics warn that this aggressive approach could pose threats to democracy and increase domestic instability, noting that Trump's legal authority to implement these changes is in doubt.