What you need to know about DOGE and its quest to reduce waste and government spending

The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is preparing to roll out once the Trump administration is sworn in with the stated goal of reducing government waste and providing greater transparency when it comes to spending of the government

DOGE is not a cabinet-level department, but a blue-ribbon committee outside the government that will be tasked with examining issues of government spending, waste, efficiency and operations.

DOGE advocates, led by Tesla and the CEO of Space X Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have suggested that $2 trillion in government waste can be cut from the federal budget by cutting spending, eliminating government programs and cutting the federal workforce.

Although the commission has no formal authority, it has pledged to work closely with the Office of Management and Budget to reform regulatory recessions, administrative cuts and cost savings.

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In addition to a working relationship with certain government agencies, DOGE will likely suggest executive actions that President Trump may take.

Several House committees and caucuses have already expressed their intent and willingness to work with DOGE until it ceases to operate on July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of 1776. Independence Dayto achieve the goal of reducing government waste.

“Our national debt has surpassed a staggering $36 trillion and should be a wake-up call to all Americans,” said House Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency Caucus Rep. Aaron Bean (R- Fla.). “We must take action to avoid falling headfirst off the cliff of fiscal ruin. I am delighted with President-elect Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, but dealing with Crazy Town will not be an easy task : they will need partners.

“Our DOGE Caucus will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help curb reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

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House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) intends to establish a new subcommittee, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that will oversee government efficiency enforcement . The subcommittee will coordinate with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by investigating unnecessary spending, looking at how to reorganize federal agencies with the goal of improving efficiency and identifying solutions to eliminate the ” bureaucracy”.

“It’s time to cut red tape, hold the unchecked federal workforce accountable, ensure programs are efficient, and work with @DOGE to tackle waste, fraud and abuse,” Comer published in X in december

On the Senate side, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst will chair the Senate Government Efficiency Caucus.

“‘Iowans elected me on a mandate to cut the pork of Washington!’ Ernst said of DOGE’s efforts. “From the billion-dollar scandal to welfare for politicians and trillion-dollar slush funds, my decade-long investigations have exposed levels of abuse that are almost too crazy to believe.

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“The tables are finally turning, the knives are out, and the waste is on the chopping block. As President Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy prepare to take action, the Senate DOGE Caucus is poised to conduct oversight criticism of Congress and use our legislative strength to fight entrenched bureaucracy, trim the fat, and make Washington work for Americans again.”

There are several historical examples in US history, with mixed results and less ambitious goals, of government-led efforts to reduce unnecessary spending and staffing.

President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 created the Keep Commission, which sought to “put the conduct of government on the most economical and efficient basis in the light of the best modern business practices” and has been acclaimed as the “first of the ordered examinations of (federal) administrative problems.”

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Five years later, President William Howard Taft was allocated $100,000 by Congress to “inquire into the methods of transacting the public affairs of the government in the several executive departments and other governmental establishments, with a view to … changing the old methods … in order to achieve greater efficiency … and recommend to Congress what changes to the law may be necessary.”

president Bill Clinton’s administration was launched the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR), led by Vice President Al Gore, with the goal of making the federal government “work better, cost less, and get results that Americans care about.”

Gore said: “We’re turning some of today’s agencies into smaller, sleeker organizations that won’t look anything like the government. They’ll be like private companies, with a real CEO hired to cut costs and have a free hand when it comes down to it.” the remaining government regulations.”

President Obama signed an executive order in June 2011, the Campaign to Reduce Government Waste was established which created an 11-member Oversight and Accountability Board with the stated mission of giving “taxpayers the same ability to track where their money goes dollars and have the same confidence that dollars are not being lost to waste, fraud or abuse, not just for Recovery Act dollars, but more broadly.”

Steve Davis, president of the Boring Co., Musk’s tunneling operation, and Michael Kratsios, a former U.S. chief technology officer, are among the top interviewees for potential DOGE employee candidates, according to people familiar with the effort.

DOGE is believed to have hired approximately 10 people so far and is looking for software engineers and people with artificial intelligence experience. Other high-profile names believed to be associated with getting DOGE off the ground include Palantir co-founder and investor Joe Lonsdale, investor Marc Andreessen, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

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For now, DOGE is operating out of glass-walled office space in Washington leased by SpaceX, another company owned by Musk, about four blocks from the White House.

Some other key areas in which DOGE hopes to make progress, Musk and Ramaswamy have previously sketchedthey include simplifying the US tax code, auditing the Department of Defense, returning National Institutes of Health money to taxpayers, and making foreign aid more transparent.

“I expect DOGE to operate in ‘founder mode’ – lean, decisive and led by two great people in Vivek and Elon who are obsessed with every detail,” said James Fishback, a Ramaswamy confidant and co-founder of investment firm Azoria . partners