Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency: Aims, Experience, and Past Efficiency Drives

• US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

• The DOGE aims to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.

• Musk and Ramaswamy are tasked with advising the government from the outside, working with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to drive large-scale structural reform.

• Musk and Ramaswamy share the President-elect’s views on cutting bureaucracy in government civil services.

• The government’s long-term fiscal future appears unsustainable, with public debt projected to grow at a rate more than twice as fast as the GDP over the next three decades.

• To achieve this, Trump must work on multiple fronts, including reinstating executive orders, using the Congressional Review Act, overhauling regulatory oversight at OMB, and eliminating entire agencies.

• The Grace Commission, formed in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan, was tasked with identifying and reducing inefficiency and waste in the U.S. Federal government.

• The DOGE initiative may sound ambitious but its direct impact is likely limited. The final implementation relies on the Office of Management and Budget and other federal agencies.

• The DOGE could play a broader role when paired with former President Trump’s Schedule F initiative, which seeks to reclassify thousands of federal employees and make it easier for the President to dismiss them.