President-elect Donald Trump announced tonight that he would name billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) upon taking office in 2025. The acronym DOGE appears to be a reference to the digital currency dogecoin, of which Musk is a fan.
“These two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, reduce overregulation, reduce wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies,” Trump’s announcement stated.
The statement did not offer details about the nature of DOGE, but did say that it would “provide advice and guidance from outside the government” and that it would “partner with the White House Office of Management and Budget.”
In September, Trump said he would create a government efficiency commission that Musk would run. Musk has asked to cut $2 billion in federal spending. In 2023, the government will spend $1.7 billion in discretionary funds. In X, Musk has already alluded to departments and areas I would try to cutincluding the Department of Education and funding of National Public Radio.
Musk has been one of Trump’s most ardent supporters. During the campaign, he approached $200 million in his political action committee (PAC), the America PAC, which he used to support Trump’s campaign. She also appeared with him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and held public meetings across the state to drum up support for the former president. Musk also used his own celebrity and X, the social media platform he owns, to reinforce the Trump campaign’s talking points and encourage followers to vote for Trump. A report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that Musk’s political posts on X between the time he endorsed Trump and the end of October got 17.1 billion views.
In his statement Tuesday, the president-elect said Musk and Ramaswamy would conclude their work in the new department “no later than July 4, 2026.”