Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGEElon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGE / Their approach includes recommending executive actions that could result in massive headcount reductions across the government.By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. Hes submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium. Nov 21, 2024, 12:55 AM UTCShare this story Illustration by Laura Normand / The VergeElon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were officially appointed the co-leads of President-elect Donald Trumps Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last week, and on Wednesday, the two men spelled out their plans for the advisory group in a long article in The Wall Street Journal.Musk and Ramaswamy say they will serve as outside volunteers making recommendations that allow the Trump administration to cut the federal government down to size. Their primary focus is on cutting down federal agencies, which they view as wasteful and antidemocratic.Most legal edicts arent laws enacted by Congress but rules and regulations promulgated by unelected bureaucrats, write the two unelected men who have been tasked with cutting trillions from the federal budget and rewriting government operations.Musk and Ramaswamy say theyll hire a lean team of small-government crusaders to work with the Trump administration and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Their primary lever for change will be executive action leaning on two recent Supreme Court rulings West Virginia v. Environmental Protection AgencyLoper Bright v. Raimondo (which overturned the Chevron doctrine) which suggest that a plethora of current federal regulations exceed the authority Congress has granted under the law.Here is how DOGE will make its recommendations for what Trump should put pause on a process that will be aided vaguely by advanced technology:DOGE will work with legal experts embedded in government agencies, aided by advanced technology, to apply these rulings to federal regulations enacted by such agencies. DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission. This would liberate individuals and businesses from illicit regulations never passed by Congress and stimulate the U.S. economy.As a result, Musk and Ramaswamy foresee Trump cutting thousands of federal regulations and say that these cuts will allow for mass head-count reductions of government employees. DOGE will try to determine the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions. This will almost certainly hobble many government agencies, which enforce everything from environmental protections to healthcare standards.Musk and Ramaswamy also suggest that Trump could impose rules like requiring federal employees to return to the office five days per week, which they say could bring voluntary terminations they would welcome. If federal employees dont want to show up, American taxpayers shouldnt pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.In the article, Musk and Ramaswamy list a few federal expenditures that seem to be on the chopping block, including $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.Musk and Ramaswamy aim to eliminate the need for DOGEs existence by July 4th, 2026.Most PopularMost Popular