President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, under his administration.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump said in a statement.
As a new department, the Department of Government Efficiency’s role remains unclear. In a statement announcing Musk and Ramaswamy’s appointment, Trump characterized the endeavor as “The Manhattan Project of our time” and said the office “will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large-scale structural reform and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.
On the campaign trail, Musk, who poured millions of dollars into electing Trump, spoke frequently about his desire to curb federal government spending.
The federal government’s spending in the 2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion.
“Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending,” Trump said in a statement announcing Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s appointment to the department. “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 – A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence.”
Nine-tenths of the government’s spending each year goes to federal programs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Nearly a quarter of the budget — 24% or $1.6 trillion — goes to health insurance programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace health insurance subsidies.
An additional 21%, or $1.4 trillion, of the budget goes to Social Security, which provides benefits to retired workers.
Another 13%, or $820 billion, of the budget is spent on defense initiatives, operations and maintenance, military personnel, and the procurement of weapons.
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