President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to “further reign in government waste and officially implement” the Department of Government Efficiency’s “cost efficiency initiative.”
The order requires each agency head to work directly with the DOGE team to identify where government contracts and grants can be terminated or modified. The new process, which “shall commence immediately,” aims to reduce federal government spending or “reallocate spending to promote efficiency and advance the policies” of the Trump administration.
Trump signed the order after holding the first cabinet meeting of his new administration, during which his senior adviser, Elon Musk, who influences DOGE’s actions, spoke at length about the department’s goals.
🚨 NEW: President Trump just signed an executive order to further reign in government waste and officially implement @DOGE‘s cost efficiency initiative.
Here is the text of the order:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United…
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 26, 2025
“The overall goal here with the DOGE team is to address the enormous deficit,” Musk told a room full of Trump cabinet members on Wednesday. “We simply cannot sustain as a country two-trillion-dollar