DOGE: Unpacking Governmental Efficiency in the New Administration
- WULR Team
- Mar 3, 2025
- 3 min read
Trimming the fat or slash-and-burn?
Published March 3 2025
Analysis by Emma Hoffman
On Tuesday, November 12th, President-elect Donald Trump named Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as heads of the newly proposed “Department of Government Efficiency.”(1) The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is intended to serve as an external source of counsel to the president, aiming “to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”(2)(3) Despite its title, the “slash-and-burn” committee is not an actual government agency, which only Congress has the power to create (4).
Musk has claimed the commission could cut $2 trillion from the U.S. budget, with the work of the commission projected to conclude in the summer of 2026 (5). A major focus has been placed on the proposed closure of the U.S. Department of Education, outlined in the Republican party’s 2024 platform. By devolving the responsibilities of the Department of Education and “sending it back to the States”, the Trump administration would be cutting the 9th largest federal agency in terms of budget, albeit one that only accounted for 1.97% of total budgetary resources (6) (7).
The Republican platform also vowed to protect and strengthen the finances of Social Security and Medicare by rooting out “corrupt politicians” and terminating “the Democrat plan to add tens of millions of new illegal immigrants to the rolls of Medicare”, making large budget cuts in these sectors unlikely.
To carry out large budget cuts and circumvent Congressional approval and decisions, Trump plans to challenge the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, also known as the ICA (8). The ICA prevents the President from refusing to carry out Congressional funding decisions, or “impounding” fiances. Essentially, the ICA works “to prevent the President and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their own funding decisions for those of the Congress.” If the President wishes to rescind funding decisions from Congress, a law must be passed approving rescission (9). Trump plans to legally challenge the limits of the impoundment to carry out the cost-cutting proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Other legal barriers pose potential threats to the Department of Government Efficiency and its plans. As founder and owner of several companies under the jurisdiction of the federal government, including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and X (formerly Twitter), Musk’s business ventures would violate conflict of interest laws. Yet, because Musk’s role will technically be an “external” limb of the White House, Musk will likely avoid legal conflict on these grounds.
Still, fears of Musk abusing his forthcoming position to skirt federal regulations and diminish the power of organizations enforcing restrictive policies on his businesses have risen. Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla, has faced recalls and investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, while his social media company, X, has received scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (10). In theory, Musk could promote budget cuts or policy changes weakening organizations regulating his business endeavors, positioning himself to reap massive personal benefits from his involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency. Considering his close relationship with the President-elect and the even closer relationship between his financial success and elimination of federal oversight, these fears may be warranted.
Trotta, Daniel, and Eric Beech. “Trump Names Elon Musk to Lead Government Efficiency Drive | Reuters.” Reuters, November 13, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-will-lead-department-government-efficiency-2024-11-13/.
Kessler, Sarah. “What Can the Department of Government Efficiency Do?” The New York Times, November 16, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/16/business/dealbook/what-can-the-department-of-government-efficiency-do.html.
Trump, Donald. Truth social, November 12, 2024. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113472884874740859.
Todd Garvey and Daniel J. Sheffner, Congress’s authority to influence and control executive branch agencies § (2018). https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45442/2.
“Elon Musk: We Can Cut $2 Trillion from US Budget.” Bloomberg.com, October 27, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024-10-28/elon-musk-we-can-cut-2-trillion-from-us-budget-video.
The 2024 Republican Platform, n.d. https://prod-static.gop.com/media/RNC2024-Platform.pdf?_gl=1*1rs45lz*_gcl_au*MTg4MzYzOTM5Mi4xNzIwNzExNjYx&_ga=2.22654203.1181240882.1723660003-915675853.1720711662.
“Agency Profiles.” USASpending
https://www.usaspending.gov/agency Lau, Tim. “Citizens United Explained.” Brennan Center for Justice, December 12, 2019. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained.
“Agenda47: Using Impoundment to Cut Waste, Stop Inflation, and Crush the Deep State: Donald J. Trump for President 2024.” Agenda47 | Donald J. Trump, June 20, 2023. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-using-impoundment-to-cut-waste-stop-inflation-and-crush-the-deep-state.
“The Impoundment Control Act of 1974: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?” House Budget Committee Democrats, October 23, 2019. https://democrats-budget.house.gov/resources/reports/impoundment-control-act-1974-what-it-why-does-it-matter#_ftn1.
O’Brien, Matt, and Tom Krisher. “Elon Musk Says He and Trump Have 'Mandate to Delete’ Regulations. Ethics Laws Could Limit Musk Role.” AP News, November 13, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/trump-elon-musk-doge-tesla-spacex-80fa8b213b46460b1a0e369dc07a6404.
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