Elon Musk’s ‘DOGE’ Department Is Here – What Tesla CEO Has Promised So Far

• Elon Musk has been named co-leader of a new Department of Government Efficiency alongside Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
• The Tesla CEO has been campaigning for the department since August.
• The price of DOGE has surged in the last twenty-four hours.

Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have been named the leaders of a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

The move marks a major win for the Tesla billionaire, who has spent the last several months campaigning heavily for both Trump’s win and the creation of the department.

Musk and Ramaswamy Elected

In a statement on social media from Trump’s campaign, the President-elect said Musk and Ramaswamy will work to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, and target wasteful expenditures.”

Despite what the name suggests, DOGE will not be a government agency; instead, it will allow both men to work outside of government.

Trump said he looked forward to “Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”

Dogecoin experienced a brief surge in value following the department’s announcement, jumping nearly 10% before slightly correcting to $0.36, highlighting its ties to Musk’s influence and the department.

Musk’s Plans for DOGE

Since Musk’s first suggestion to the department in August, the Tesla boss has expressed a variety of measures that he would like to employ.

Most drastically, Musk said he wanted to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. This would require a level of austerity that has not been seen since World World II in the U.S.

The Tesla boss has not confirmed where he would take the money from but has criticized National Public Radio and the Education Department.

“A lot of people who are taking advantage of the government are going to be upset about it… I need a lot of security, but it’s got to be done, and if it’s not done, we’ll just go bankrupt,” Musk previously said.

Musk said he believes the country could “get away from 99 agencies,” as there are currently “so many that people have never even heard of.”

Hardship to Citizens

The billionaire admitted that the cuts will likely cause “temporary hardship” to citizens.

“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said at a virtual town hall on X. “And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”

Ramaswamy has also promised drastic measures under the new agency, including mass firings at federal agencies. This would require overstepping legal protections that keep the federal civil service safe from political-targeted layoffs.

“Large-scale reductions in force are absolutely the method that I’ll be using,” he said last year.

Elon Musk Promotes DOGE

Musk reiterated his view that the government was wasting large amounts of money during a Pennsylvania town hall event on Oct. 18.

“I think, in general, the amount of waste that happens with the federal government is really staggering. It’s a staggering amount of waste of taxpayer money,” Musk said.

Musk told the crowd that politicians “seem to forget that the money being spent is your money, and if it’s not being spent in a way that is beneficial to the American people, it’s a misuse of the funds.”

The billionaire CEO went on to claim that “there’s a lot of money being spent where illegals are getting more benefits than citizens.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he added.