Musk details mass cuts to US federal spending and staff

US President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk would lead an efficiency drive under his new administration – Copyright AFP/File Kena Betancur

Elon Musk outlined plans Wednesday for his new role as “efficiency” czar — signaling an assault on federal spending and staffing that would be backed by President-elect Donald Trump’s executive powers and a conservative Supreme Court.

In the Wall Street Journal, the world’s richest man said he was taking aim at hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending — including funding for public broadcasting and abortion rights group Planned Parenthood — as well as at bureaucracy that represents an “existential threat” to US democracy.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that he, along with fellow businessman and Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy, would work to slash federal regulations and make major administrative cuts and cost savings. 

“We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in their most detailed remarks since Trump named them heads of a new Department of Government Efficiency. 

Musk said DOGE — a nod to Musk’s support for a cryptocurrency — will prepare a list of regulations issued by government agencies without Congress approval, which Trump could then invalidate by executive order.

“When the president nullifies thousands of such regulations, critics will allege executive overreach. In fact, it will be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat that were never authorized by Congress,” Musk said.

He added that a reduction in regulations would pave the way for “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” and said DOGE would aim to cut more than $500 billion in government expenditures. 

“With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” Musk said.