The incoming Trump administration’s solution to government spending is a new Department of Government Efficiency led by co-department chiefs: the world’s richest man and Trump’s former political opponent.
But while on the surface the plan to cut government spending seems simple, the “department,” led by multibillionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is fairly unorthodox. The U.S. Constitution states the President: “may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments.” That section implies a primary leader and explains why the 15 executive Cabinet departments including State, Defense, and Treasury have a single secretary with a chain-of-command from the President on down. However, other agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, are governed by a commission structure; the President taps one commissioner to serve as chair.
What is it?
In a statement on Truth Social Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump gave the department a broad mandate to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” Trump compared the department’s importance to that of the “Manhattan Project” which led to the creation of the atomic bomb in the 20th century.
Trump added in the statement that the co-leaders would target waste and fraud that Trump said exists throughout the $6.5 trillion yearly federal budget. The department will operate through July 4, 2026, wrapping up its operations just in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Trump said in the statement.
Co-leader Elon Musk said in a Wednesday post that the massive cuts and reforms “will be done much faster.”
Why two department heads?
Both leaders of the department, multibillionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have been avid supporters of the president-elect. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of social media website X, reportedly supported Trump via his super PAC with about $200 million in funding and often spoke with him at campaign rallies leading up to the election. Musk is the richest man in the world, with a net worth of $319 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Although he ran against Trump in the Republican primary race, Ramaswamy dropped out and endorsed Trump in January. The entrepreneur, who founded pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, has also appeared with Trump on the campaign trail.
Some leaders of the democratic party have already criticized the co-leaders of the department, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a great start with split leadership: two people to do the work of one person. Yeah, this seems REALLY efficient,” Warren wrote in a Tuesday post on X.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Will the Department of Government Efficiency be a new government department?
Contrary to its name, the new “department” will not be a part of the federal government, but rather more like a consulting arm that “will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government,” according to the statement. Musk flagged the fact that the new department exists outside of the government as “important details” in a post on X Wednesday. Musk especially has his hands full elsewhere with his other companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and social media site, X.
Despite its separation from government, the department’s leaders have Trump’s support and have pledged myriad internal changes to try to cut back on federal spending.
What have the co-leaders said about government spending?
On the campaign trail with Trump, Musk said he wanted to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion, and added in an October rally that “some pretty big moves” were required.
“Our defense budget is pretty gigantic. It's a trillion dollars,” Musk said during a rally. “The interest we owe on the debt is now higher than the defense budget. This is not sustainable. That's why we need the Department of Government Efficiency,”
Ramaswamy has previously floated the idea of eliminating the Education Department, the FBI, and the IRS by executive order to cut spending, the New York Times reported. Ramaswamy has said the federal workforce should be cut by 75%.
The pair have said the cuts will be transparent and Musk added that the department would create a “leaderboard” to display the “most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars.”
Will it work?
Experts have cast doubt on whether Musk and Ramaswamy will be able to find $2 trillion to cut from federal spending without impacting long-untouched programs such as social security and defense spending.
The consequences of such big cuts could be massive layoffs for government employees and even some temporary economic pain. When a user on Musk’s social media site X wrote in October that Musk’s massive spending cuts could cause a temporary overreaction in the economy, Musk replied with “sounds about right.”
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said in a speech at The Economic Club of New York on Tuesday that Musk would be lucky to find $200 billion worth of cuts, much less $2 trillion, CNN reported.
Why the acronym “DOGE?”
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE as Trump abbreviated it in his official announcement, is a callback to the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk has often promoted over the years.
The cryptocurrency was originally created as a joke but has grown to become the sixth largest cryptocurrency with a Wednesday market cap of $56 billion, greater than that of major companies such as Volkswagen or Ford.
The cryptocurrency jumped 20% following Trump’s announcement Tuesday and was up just over 1% on Wednesday afternoon.
