Elon Musk is the director of the Department of Government Efficiency. He has been urged by the former president Donald Trump to take “more aggressive” measures for cost cutting within the federal governments. This has caused a great deal of debate about the size and role of government.
Efficiency and government expenditures are the core issues.
Elon Musk, as the DOGE head, has made significant cuts to spending across federal departments. This led to extensive layoffs. This administration sees these reductions as necessary to reduce government spending and tackle the federal deficit. Critics express concern that these cuts could have a negative impact on the quality and availability of public services. This includes those relating to education, support for small businesses and international aid.
DOGE Initiatives: Key details
Donald Trump, in a post published on Truth Social recently, not only praised Musk’s performance as CEO of DOGE and said that he had been “doing great work,” but also encouraged him to “be more aggressive” when it came to his federal budget optimization approach.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has overseen more than 200,000 departures of federal employees since January. The Office of Personnel Management reports that this number includes 75,000 federal probationary workers who accepted “deferred-resignation” buyouts as well as those terminated directly.
Impacted Federal Agencies
These cuts have affected several agencies, including:
- Department of Education
- Small Business Administration
- General Services Administration (GSA) of the U.S.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of the United States
- United States Agency for International Development
- Department of Justice
In January 2010, the Office of Personnel Management, acting as the head of federal personnel, issued an order instructing all agencies to compile a list of employees on probation who would be easier to terminate.
The same day the former president Trump reinstated Schedule F via an executive order. This policy, which was first introduced in his first term as president, allows thousands of federal workers to be reclassified as political appointees. In effect, it strips away the civil service protections that were designed to protect career employees against politically motivated terminations. It allows employees to be terminated more easily.
Specific Agency Impacts
According to data on DOGE’s official website, the United States Agency for International Development has seen the largest cuts. The total is $6.5 billion. Initially, the administration wanted to dismiss over 2,700 USAID workers and bring back most overseas personnel. A federal judge blocked the action, stressing that Congress must approve any dismantling of USAID. DOGE’s top 10 list for both total contract savings and contract savings as percentages of budget lists the agency first.
Per DOGE receipts the Department of Education was ranked second on this list with a contract saving of 502 million dollars. Reports also suggest the former president Trump may be considering issuing an executive order that would eliminate the Department of Education. This would fulfill a campaign promise made many years ago. Terminating the Department of Education would require approval from Congress.
Department of Defense also expects to reduce its workforce. Announcing a planned reduction of 5-8% in the civilian workforce and a freeze on hiring that would begin next week, an announcement was made. The Government Accountability Office reports that the Defense Department is the largest agency in the government and employs over 700,000 civilian staff full time as of 2023. All uniformed personnel is exempt.
In a press release, Darin Selnick, acting under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness said: “We expect to reduce the Department’s civil workforce by 5 – 8 percent in order to achieve efficiencies and focus the Department back on President Obama’s priority and restore the Force’s readiness.”
DOGE states that it has achieved savings of $55 Billion in the federal budget since January. A closer look at the published data shows that receipts amount to approximately $16.5 Billion. NPR reported that the projected overall savings for government spending could be as high as $2 billion. NPR also highlighted an error: more than one third of the contracts listed in the DOGE site would, in reality, not result in financial savings.
Statements and reactions
Donald Trump’s Truth Statement Social Media: “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. I WANT TO REMEMBER THAT WE NEED TO SAVE A COUNTRY, AND ULTIMATELY MAKE IT GREATER THAN EVER. MAGA!”
Look Ahead
Elon’s response to Trumps’ call for more aggressive actions remains unclarified. Legal challenges were brought against actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce federal employees.
The Trump administration is free to continue mass firings, according to a ruling by a federal court on Thursday.