Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are continuing to drop hints about where the co-leads of President-elect Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will continue focusing on trimming federal spending when the new Trump administration takes command in January.
Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person known for his ambitious aims, has set a goal to slash $2 trillion in federal spending under the new initiatives. At the same time, Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur, has said entire agencies will be “deleted” under DOGE’s recommendations.
What do the DOGE heads see as opportunities for improvement — and what they won’t touch:
IRS: Simplify U.S. tax code policy
“In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code. Today, there are more than 16 million words,” posted DOGE to its X account on November 15. “Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year. This must be simplified.”
Department of Defense (DOD): Pentagon’s chronic audit failing
Two days after the post cited previously, DOGE flagged that the DOD had failed its seventh straight audit last month, noting once again that the DOD cannot fully account for its budget — around $824 billion.
When Elon Musk saw the news about the Pentagon’s latest failed audit, he wrote on X, “Sounds like a job for @DOGE!”
In a subsequent post, Ramaswamy noted that the Department of Education (DOE) had just failed its third consecutive audit, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “showed significant deficiencies.” He additionally had three red flags about AmericCorp’s budget, calling the findings “Utterly unacceptable” before adding, “Time for DOGE.”
Finding and modernizing cost-effective government IT systems
“The Federal government spends 80% of its annual $100 billion IT budget on maintaining outdated systems,” posted DOGE on X. “Not only are older systems more expensive to maintain, but they are also more vulnerable to hackers.”
Ramaswamy and Musk both wrote posts saying updating tech is a priority, with Ramaswamy stating it is on DOGE’s “to-do list.”
Congress: $516 billion authorized for programs that are expired
“In FY2024, U.S. Congress provided $516 billion to programs whose authorizations previously expired under federal law,” posted the DOGE X account on November 16. “Nearly $320 billion of that $516 billion expired more than a decade ago.”
Expediting government projects
In a December 5 X post, DOGE pointed to numerous federal projects that were delayed for years because of red tape. Ramaswamy and Musk say deregulation is a crucial part of DOGE’s purpose, which aligns with Trump’s agenda. Ramaswamy pointed out specific issues with how regulations are hindering construction.
Federal workforce: Ending employees of the government working from home option
DOGE and its co-leaders have repeatedly vowed to end telework for federal employees, flagging the Biden administration’s last-minute deal for extending employees work-from-home privileges for an additional five years for 42,000 Social Security Administration (SSA) employees — after President-elect Donald Trump departs office.
Ramaswamy states that a majority of federal workers don’t show up to the office and points to the fact that the United States government owns thousands of vacant buildings—which he said is “nuts” and “a job for DOGE.”
Separately, Musk pointed to a report from Senator Joni Ernst indicating that “If you exclude security guards and maintenance personnel, the number of government workers who show up in person and do 40 hours of work a week is closer to 1%!”
“Almost no one,” Musk added.
National Institutes of Health (NIH): Return taxpayers’ money
In response to a post by DOGE that in 2023, NIH spent $759 million on workforce outreach and diversity, over $611,000 on “Evaluating Microaggressions among LatinX Individuals with Obesity,” and $87,944 on the “Role of the estrous cycle and nucleus accumbens signaling on incubation of oxycodone craving in female rats,” wrote Ramaswamy. “Return this $$ to the taxpayers.”
President-elect Trump chose Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the nominee to serve as director of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Ramaswamy signaled cost-savings can be expected across the board under RFK’s watch.
Federal agencies: Fraud losses
In answer to a report that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion yearly due to fraud, Musk replied on X, “Drop the @DOGE hammer.”
Investment transparency in foreign aid
“Here’s an easy one for @DOGE!” wrote longtime budget-cutting proponent, former candidate for president, and retired Congressman Dr. Ron Paul on X. “ELIMINATE foreign aid! It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the U.S. and giving it to the rich in poor countries — with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid. Besides, it is the immoral transfer of wealth and is unconstitutional.”
In response to Paul, Musk wrote, “@DOGE will address this with full transparency for the American people.”
Protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits
Social Security is the largest spending program in the federal government, followed by Medicaid and Medicare, as well as the other mandatory obligations. Although several options for adjustments have been floated to address these programs’ sustainability over the years, Ramaswamy said recently that touching entitlements isn’t DOGE’s role.
At the Aspen Security Forum earlier this month, Ramaswamy told Axios that it would be premature to discuss any of the previously mentioned entitlements through DOGE, saying such cuts would be “a policy decision that belongs to the voters” and their Congressional representatives.
But Ramaswamy signaled that DOGE will look to halt spending taxpayer dollars on individuals who are wrongly pocketing funds under the programs.
“Right now, there are hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out the door of all of those programs ending up in the heads of people who, even under the statute, should not be receiving those payments,” Ramaswamy told the outlet.
