In a debate article in The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, his intended partner in the work, write that today's Washington is "anti-democratic" and burdens taxpayers' wallets unnecessarily.
"Thank goodness we have a historic opportunity to solve the problem," they write, and continue their description of the goal for Trump's new efficiency agency Doge.
Multi-billion-dollar savings
"Skeptics ask themselves how large federal costs Doge can cut," they write, and continue:
"Cut back on 500 billion dollars in annual federal expenditures that Congress has not approved or that are used in ways Congress did not intend – from 535 million dollars a year on (the public media company) PBS and 1.5 billion dollars in grants to international organizations to nearly 300 million dollars to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood (which, among other things, performs abortions)".
Another measure is to reduce the number of employees as much as possible.
"It will not only require fewer employees to implement fewer regulations, authorities will also introduce fewer regulations when their powers have been properly limited."
Government employees will be forced to be at their offices to perform their tasks, which Musk and Ramaswamy believe will drive many to voluntarily resign:
"If federal employees do not want to show up for work, US taxpayers should not pay them for privileges from the Covid era."
Calling themselves volunteers
They themselves are only volunteers who will help Donald Trump, and not burdensome bureaucrats, they emphasize. In less than two years, they will be done with their mission.
"Our goal is for Doge not to need to exist when we reach July 4, 2026, the final deadline we have set. We cannot think of a better gift to our nation on its 250th birthday."
