President-elect Donald Trump named tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday to head up a new Department of Government Efficiency, fulfilling a campaign pledge to give Musk sweeping oversight of government spending.
Trump said in a statement on to social media that the department will help “dismantle Government Bureaucracy” and slash excess regulations. The name of the agency, DOGE for short, is a reference to a meme and a cryptocurrency associated with Musk.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in the statement released by the transition team.
On X, he added: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”
Musk has said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, which is more than the discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion. He has provided few details about what he’d like to cut, though he has attacked relatively small recipients of federal money, such as the Education Department and NPR.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to get rid of the Department of Education.
Musk has said the cuts would mean “temporary hardship” for some people.
Ramaswamy has called for mass layoffs at federal agencies, a tactic that could