Elon Musk and DOGE: What You Need to Know About the Department of Government Efficiency

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will helm a brand new U.S. authorities initiative geared toward decreasing the federal finances deficit.

Known as the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), the initiative—which has an acronym similar to the ticker of Musk’s favourite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin—will “slash extra laws, lower wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Businesses,” in keeping with President-elect Donald Trump.

Nevertheless, some particulars in regards to the undertaking stay unclear. This is every little thing we all know to date about DOGE.

What’s DOGE?

DOGE is an upcoming U.S. authorities initiative that Elon Musk first tweeted about final August.

Whereas the undertaking initially gave the impression to be a gag—created as a gag, and unsurprisingly pumping the worth of Dogecoin every time talked about by Musk—Trump threw his assist behind DOGE’s push to curtail authorities spending, suggesting the as soon as fictitious division will really turn out to be a real-life U.S. government-affiliated entity.

“Collectively, [Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy] will pave the way in which for my administration to dismantle authorities paperwork, slash extra laws, lower wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal businesses—important to the ‘Save America’ motion,” Trump stated Tuesday in an announcement.

The undertaking shall be lively till “no later than July 4, 2026,” Trump stated; that’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Notably, DOGE isn’t an official U.S. authorities division within the conventional sense, as solely Congress—not the president—can approve the creation of recent federal authorities departments, in keeping with the U.S. Congress’ web site.

Somewhat, Musk’s meme-linked brainchild will exist “outdoors” of the federal government system, Trump stated. Which means DOGE will possible not obtain authorities funds. It additionally implies that the undertaking’s potential to immediately management U.S. authorities company budgets shall be minimal, though DOGE’s directives may very well be carried out by Trump’s supporters in Congress.

Who will run DOGE? 

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the cost on the Division of Authorities Effectivity. Neither govt will obtain compensation from their work, in keeping with a Twitter publish that Musk revealed Thursday.

Musk, after all, is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and the proprietor of Twitter (aka X). Ramaswamy is an entrepreneur and one-time Republican presidential hopeful, who exited the race through the primaries and threw his assist behind Trump.

The initiative may even tentatively be staffed by a lot of “tremendous high-IQ small-government revolutionaries keen to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” in keeping with the division’s official publish Thursday. It isn’t but identified what number of staff shall be employed to workers the undertaking, however the gigs shall be unpaid, Elon Musk tweeted this week.

Neither Ramaswamy nor Musk instantly replied to Decrypt’s request for remark.

What’s going to DOGE really do? 

DOGE’s mandate is to streamline the U.S. authorities by issuing studies that present recommendation and steering on trimming authorities laws and spending, in keeping with Trump.

“Your cash is being wasted, and the Division of Authorities Effectivity goes to repair that. We’re going to get the federal government off your again and out of your pocketbook,” Musk stated in October at a rally for Trump at New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard.

Nevertheless, the quasi-department’s billionaire leaders have given differing statements over the extent to which  the U.S. federal authorities’s spending must be slashed.

Musk has advised decreasing federal expenditures by $2 million—a 3rd of the U.S. federal authorities’s complete finances. In the meantime, Ramaswamy has stated he’d like to chop as a lot as 75% of the U.S. federal workforce, although the finances impression of such a lower is unclear.

Regardless of these variations, the DOGE leaders look like aligned on axing scores of federal authorities staff and a number of other U.S. businesses, such because the Division of Training and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to chop prices, in keeping with current public feedback from Ramaswamy and Musk.

“The magnitude of the [government funds] waste is past what the general public may probably think about,” Musk tweeted Thursday, referencing U.S. federal authorities spending, which topped $6 trillion in 2023.

Musk has stated that DOGE will maintain weekly livestreams to share updates on their progress.

Why is it referred to as DOGE?

The fake division’s initialism, DOGE, seems to be a cheeky reference to the ticker for Dogecoin (DOGE), a high-market-cap meme coin beloved by Elon Musk. That hyperlink was bolstered by an official t-shirt offered by Trump that includes the president-elect, Musk, and a Shiba Inu canine.

The meme, which is known for its Shiba Inu mascot, was invented in 2013 by a pair of software program engineers. Musk has stated that he owns a “bunch” of Dogecoin, and he has tweeted and spoken in regards to the coin routinely over the previous years. He even referred to as himself the “Dogefather” in 2021 and talked about the coin whereas internet hosting Saturday Night time Dwell.

Dogecoin’s worth climbed amid Musk’s assist for Trump on the marketing campaign path, after which skyrocketed after Trump’s win and amid the official announcement of DOGE management. The coin hit a three-year-high value final week and has helped spur different notable meme cash to surge in worth, as effectively.

Edited by Andrew Hayward