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President-elect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> on Tuesday <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113472884874740859" target=_blank>announced</a> his intention to create a “Department of Government Efficiency,” an outside body to advise the White House, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/12/elon-musk-trump-doge-vivek-ramaswamy/" target=_blank>led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy</a>.

The commission’s acronym, DOGE, a nod to the meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin, has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/11/01/elon-musk-cuts-government-trump-election/" target=_blank>used repeatedly by Musk</a> in recent months when the billionaire was publicly floating the idea of a government efficiency commission.

Trump said the commission is designed to cut regulations, reduce government staff and “restructure” federal bodies. It is unclear how such an effort would proceed.

How would a Department of Government Efficiency work?

In his announcement, Trump proposed the creation of an advisory body, operating outside government. Though it has the word “department” in its name, it would not be a government department — those are <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-2/creation-of-federal-offices" target=_blank>created</a> by congressional authorization.

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Follow <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/02/trump-administration-transition/" target=_blank>live updates on the transition</a> to Trump’s second presidency. We’re <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/trump-administration-appointees/" target=_blank>tracking the people Trump has picked or is considering to fill his Cabinet</a> and key positions in his administration.

The commission will provide guidance to the White House on cutting spending, Trump said, working with the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for assembling the president’s budget request to Congress. It will be directed to drive “drastic change” by making recommendations on “large scale structural reform” and taking a more “entrepreneurial approach” to government.

Trump is giving the group until July 4, 2026, to finish its work. Some Trump advisers hope it will emulate the Grace Commission, <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/expert-views/fiscal-commission/fiscal-commissions-promises-and-disappointments" target=_blank>the first of at least four major commissions </a>created over the past four decades to reform the federal bureaucracy and control spending. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, the Grace Commission submitted more than 2,500 recommendations to the White House and Congress in January 1984, most of which were never adopted.

It is not immediately clear how the commission would be funded. The Federal Advisory Committee Act <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/secrecy/IF12512.pdf" target=_blank>regulates</a> the <a href="https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/federal-advisory-committee-management" target=_blank>approximately 1,000 </a>advisory bodies that have at least one member who is not a federal government official. It allows, but does not require, the agency that the body is advising to compensate its members.

What have Musk and Ramaswamy said about federal spending?

Musk is the world’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#c9db2923d788" target=_blank>richest</a> person. He runs the car company Tesla, the rocket company SpaceX and the social media platform X. He <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/25/elon-musk-donald-trump-donation/" target=_blank>donated heavily</a> to secure Trump’s election and appeared with him on the campaign trail.

After Trump’s announcement, Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1856505561501561307" target=_blank>said</a> on X, “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!” He also shared past statements in which he said that he wanted to <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1856532960104583329" target=_blank>cut</a> the number of federal agencies from <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies" target=_blank>over</a> 400 to no more than 99 and that <a href="https://x.com/america/status/1856511730702025175" target=_blank>interest payments on U.S. debt</a>, which were about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/08/federal-budget-deficit-financial-health/" target=_blank>$950 billion</a> last fiscal year, are “not sustainable.” He <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/29/elon-musk-2-trillion-budget-cuts-trump-election/" target=_blank>has also said</a> he wants to see federal spending cut by $2 trillion; last fiscal year, federal spending was about $6.75 trillion.

Ramaswamy, a pharmaceutical and asset management <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/19/vivek-ramaswamy-the-ceo-of-anti-woke-inc" target=_blank>entrepreneur</a> whose net worth is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2023/08/21/how-vivek-ramaswamy-became-a-billionaire/" target=_blank>estimated</a> to hover around  $1 billion, was a 2024 Republican presidential candidate who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/15/vivek-ramaswamy-drops-out-2024-election/" target=_blank>dropped out</a> during the primaries. He had promised to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/11/12/trump-close-education-department-proposal-explained/" target=_blank>close down the Education Department</a>, the FBI, the IRS and other government agencies, and to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/11/vivek-ramaswamy-federal-reserve-reform-plan/?itid=lk_inline_manual_19" target=_blank>limit </a>the power of the Federal Reserve.

What’s the significance of the acronym DOGE?

The commission’s acronym shares a name with a cryptocurrency called dogecoin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/03/doge-twitter-logo-crypto-elon-musk/" target=_blank>associated</a> with Musk — the value of which has reached a more than three-year high since Trump’s election win, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/digital-assets/assets/dogecoin-doge/" target=_blank>according</a> to Forbes. The coin is named after an internet meme popular in the mid-2010s that consisted of a picture of a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/24/kabosu-doge-meme-shiba-inu-dead/" target=_blank>Shiba Inu dog</a> paired with grammatically incorrect phrases such as “much excite, very wow.”

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Monash University, BA in Journalism

Frances Vinall is a global breaking news reporter for The Washington Post who is based in Seoul. 

Frances Vinall

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