While serving as co-leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk have devised a comprehensive strategy with the objectives of minimizing waste in the government, lowering the amount of money spent by the federal government, and improving the efficiency of operations.
They intend to dramatically reduce the scale and scope of operations carried out by the federal government, with the goal of reducing wasteful bureaucratic practices. A concept for lowering the number of government agencies from 428 to 99, as proposed by Elon Musk, is included in this discussion.
The reduction of regulation at the federal level is a primary focus. In order to dispute and maybe get rid of rules that they say go beyond the jurisdiction of Congress, they want to make use of recent decisions made by the Supreme Court, such as West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency and Loper Bright v. Raimondo. By releasing companies and individuals from rules that they regard to be illegal, this strategy intends to stimulate economic activity and therefore liberate them from those regulations.
With the intention of achieving what they refer to as “bulk headcount reductions,” their proposal calls for large layoffs to be implemented within the federal government. They propose to collaborate with legal professionals in order to determine the minimal number of personnel required for agencies to properly function. This might potentially result in the termination of civil servants, with a particular emphasis on those whose positions are connected to rules that they intend to reduce.
Transparency has been stressed by Elon Musk, who has stated that all acts of DOGE will be posted online for the purpose of achieving maximum transparency. The purpose of this action is to make it possible for the public to scrutinize and participate in the process of determining whether expenditures are unnecessary.
Although the Department of Government Enterprises (DOGE) is not an official government department, it functions outside of the usual framework of the government and offers advice and direction. Depending on the particulars, the suggestions that it suggested would have to be put into action either through executive action or through approval from Congress.
With the overriding objective of making the government more efficient, they are aligning themselves with conservative ideas that advocate for reducing the size of the government, slashing spending that is not required, and giving control to the states or the private sector whenever it is practicable to do so. Nevertheless, the practicability and impact of these proposals continue to be scrutinized, with critics pointing out the difficulties involved in bringing about such large changes without the involvement of Congress or facing significant problems in both the legal and practical realms.
