Elon Musk has been appointed as Head of DOGE in the new Trump administration and he’s already pledged $2 trillion in cuts.
President-elect Donald Trump has named the tech mogul as the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Along with conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk has promised a complete overhaul and Trump has revealed that the department will help to ‘dismantle Government Bureaucracy’.
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In a statement, Musk said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”
On X, formerly Twitter, he went on to say: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”
The billionaire has also said that he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.
However, the new department isn’t actually part of the government and will instead work from the outside to offer ‘advice and guidance’, according to a statement by Trump.
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Trump went on to say that DOGE will conduct a ‘complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms’.
The department won’t be full-time and will end on July 4 2026, on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Trump has said that a more efficient government will be a ‘gift’ to the country on that day.
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At a rally, the president-elect spoke about Musk’s role, saying: “I don’t think I can get him full-time because he’s a little bit busy sending rockets up and all the things he does.
“He said the waste in this country is crazy. And we’re going to get Elon Musk to be our cost-cutter.”
So, what has Musk pledged to do under DOGE?
Cuts to federal spending
The Tesla boss plans to slash $2 trillion from government spending, which is nearly a third of the federal budget.
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However, he hasn’t offered any specifics as to what will face the chopping block in order to meet that target.
Federal agencies face the axe
Musk has said that he will eliminate hundreds of federal agencies, which he’s claimed many of them overlap in their areas of responsibility.
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When Ramaswamy ran for president last year, he said that he would fire more than 75% of federal staff and would close down several agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Education and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Trump had also vowed during his campaign to get rid of the Department of Education.