New agency would cut government spending
President-elect Donald Trump has tasked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with leading a panel to streamline the U.S. government, called the Department of Government Efficiency. Details are to follow, but here’s what we know about the genesis of the DOGE.
It’s an idea that Musk, the $314-billion man, proffered more than three months ago.
Musk, whose companies include the electric car maker Tesla and commercial space company SpaceX, has a deep knowledge of NASA and the Pentagon, agencies he has extensive contracts with for rockets, satellites and other space operations.
As the Tesla and Space X chief became a much more visible figure during the late stages of the 2024 campaign, government efficiency became a higher-profile talking point in Trump’s third White House run.
Here is a short history of the Department of Government Efficiency — and how it became one of the splashiest announcements of the Trump transition.
Where exactly did this idea come from?
Generally speaking, large budgetary actions are the remit of Congress. The legislative branch can take advice from outside panels, like the proposed efficiency panel, or disregard it.
The bid for a government spending review first came to the forefront in August when Musk, who was already backing Trump’s candidacy, hosted a conversation with the former president on X, the online platform formerly known as Twitter, which he bought in 2022 for $44 billion.
During the talk, Musk blamed the country’s inflationary spiral on federal government spending by the Biden administration, although the Trump administration had also contributed trillions of dollars in red ink to the debt.
Trump, however, pivoted to energy production.
Musk then suggested creating a 'government efficiency commission' to review federal budget expenditures with the goal of eliminating what he called wasteful spending but did not offer specific examples.
'Sure, but back to this basic thing that people try to make complicated, but it’s not — inflation is caused by government overspending,' Musk said, returning to the topic. 'Would you agree that we need to look at government spending and have a government efficiency commission that tries to make the spending sensible so the country lives within its means?'
Was Trump immediately sold on the idea?
Trump did not engage Musk’s idea to any great length during that Aug. 12 conversation — other than offering an anecdote about how he said he got the price for a new Air Force One reduced by $1.6 billion.
The former president instead blamed inflation on energy costs and blamed Biden’s policies. His inflation solution was not reducing government spending. Instead, he repeated his call to expand drilling to bring down consumer product costs.
Specifically, Trump insisted the U.S. has ample energy reserves that should be tapped, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a 19 million-acre pristine wilderness.
Trump warmed up to the idea as Musk became a pivotal supporter
Trump’s fiscal plan focused on tax cuts — including removing federal income taxes on worker tips — but as Musk took center stage at rallies and pumped $100 million into the Trump campaign, the GOP nominee started talking up the government efficiency committee.
In mid-October, Trump appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News show. When the host suggested 'there’s a lot of fat in government that you would want to slim down,' Trump replied: 'Incredible fat.'
Trump then spoke about how he saw a major role for Musk in targeting federal budget cuts because 'he is dying to do this.'
He added: 'But you know what, he’s a great business guy, and he’s a great cost-cutter. You’ve seen that. And he said, ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody.’'
Musk warns of ‘hardship’ from federal cost-cutting
Musk not only influenced Trump on the subject but also made the pitch directly to voters at Trump rallies.
'Your money is being wasted,' Musk said at an Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden in New York that drew attention mostly because of a comedian’s crude joke about Puerto Rico. 'We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook.'
Musk told the rally crowd he could eliminate 'at least $2 trillion.' He didn’t say where some of those cuts would be made, but $2 trillion is roughly 30% of the $6 trillion-plus annual federal budget.
Musk did acknowledge that the reduction in spending and programs would result in 'temporary hardship' for Americans.
No specifics, but the ‘DOGE’ is getting lots of search play
A report from Cases.gg, a research group that conducted a survey on Dogecoin searches, revealed that international searches for the cryptocurrency, which has been promoted by Musk, reached 667,410 on November 12 following an announcement from the Trump transition team.
The search volume increased by 777% compared to the daily average from four weeks earlier. This increase followed Trump’s appointment of Musk and Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, dubbed 'DOGE.'
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today
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