The key objectives that the new authority will have met by 4 July 2026 are:
- Cut wasteful expenditures also by formulating recommendations on how to restructure federal agencies;
- Slash excess regulations; and
- Dismantle government bureaucracy.
DOGE is expected to operate outside of Government and provide advice to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget.
It will be Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy** to lead DOGE.
Mr. Musk has announced that all DOGE’s decisions will be published online to ensure the highest level of transparency. Additionally, it will publish the most irrational expenditures of public funds; to identify these expenditures, Mr. Musk has asked the general public to express an opinion on the expenditures to cut.
In promoting the idea of creating this kind of a body, Elon Musk had previously stated that he would cut as much as $2 trillion from the federal budget. Given that the US government has spent $6.75 trillion in 2024, this reduction can regard a third of existing expenditures. Shortly before his appointment, Vivek Ramaswamy had called on dismissing 75% of federal employees.
These plans, however, have been seriously criticized. For instance, the President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said they would lead to a mass reduction in public benefits and services, and combined with the envisaged large-scale tax cuts they can have an impact on social protections, in particular, on the Medicare and Medicaid health programmes, food aid programmes for the low-income families, and veterans’ benefit payments and others. The AFGE’s President also stated that these large-scale reductions will require military spending, domestic security and federal law enforcement cuts. In his opinion, the expenditures on contractors often exceeding the level necessary to execute orders will be the first to be cut.
Besides DOGE expected work plans, the fact of the establishment of the agency was criticised.
The Government Accountability Office responsible for auditing federal expenditures and reporting to Congress and public bodies accordingly has been in place for a long time.
The establishment of DOGE can lead to duplication of functions and waste of resources (against which the agency should fight). Furthermore, the creation of the new body will result in additional discretionary powers, i.e. additional corruption risks.
Experts also highlight that the establishment of DOGE outside the Government releases its management from restrictions and prohibitions aimed at preventing conflicts of interest: Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy can continue doing business also in the areas that can be subject to the influence of the new agency.
At the same time, the two future heads of DOGE do not have any experience in management associated not only with commercial objectives, but also with the exercise of social functions.
*It is curious that the acronym DOGE seems a nod to the memecoin Dogecoin, Musk-backed cryptocurrency.
**Elon Musk is an American businessman, inventor and engineer, founder and CEO of such companies as SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Boring Company. He is famous for his innovations in space technologies, electric transport and artificial intelligence, as well as for his aspiration to colonize Mars. Mr. Musk is considered as one of the most influential figures in business and technologies.
Vivek Ramaswamy is an American enterpreneur, writer and politician. He became famous as the founder of Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company, and author of books on corporate culture and freedom of speech.
