Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy point to DOGE goals

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy offer hints on where the co-leaders stand President-elect Trump The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will focus its efforts on cutting federal spending when the new administration takes office in January.

Musk, the world’s richest person known for his ambitious goals, has set a goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending under the initiative, while Ramaswamy, a billionaire himself, said, Entire agencies will be “deleted”. Under DOGE recommendations.

Fox Business We’ve compiled a list of what successful entrepreneurs see as opportunities for improvement — and what they say they won’t touch:

IRS: Simplifying US Tax Code Policy

“In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the US tax code. Today, there are more than 16 million,” DOGE posted to its X account on November 15. “Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year, and this must be simplified.”

DOGE could save the $2 trillion in spending that Musk wants, but the savings may take some time

Department of Defense (DOD): Chronic audit failure at the Pentagon

Two days after the previously mentioned post, DOGE flagged that Ministry of Defense It failed a seventh straight review last month, with the Defense Department noting that it once again could not fully account for its budget — which stood at $824 billion.

When Musk saw the news about the latest botched Pentagon audit, we wrote on X, “Looks like a job for @DOGE!”

In a later post, Ramaswamy noted that Department of Education (DOE) It just failed its third audit in a row, and the USDA showed “significant deficiencies.” He also raised red flags about AmericCorp’s budget, calling all the results “completely unacceptable” before adding “it’s time to DOGE.”

Congress: $516 billion allocated for expired programs

“In fiscal year 2024, the US Congress provided $516 billion for programs whose licenses had previously expired under federal law,” the DOGE X account posted on November 16. “Roughly $320 billion of that $516 billion expired a decade ago.”

Federal Workforce: Ending the option for government employees to work from home

DOGE and its co-leaders have repeatedly pledged to end telework for federal employees, highlighting the Biden administration’s last-minute agreement to extend work-from-home privileges for 42,000 Social Security Administration (SSA) employees for another five years — beyond President-elect Trump. Leaves his post.

Ernst pledges to work with Doug to reverse the Biden administration’s telework extension for federal employees

Ramaswamy says the majority of federal employees don’t come to the office, and pointed to the fact that the U.S. government owns thousands of vacant buildings, which he called “crazy” and “a job for the DOGE.”

Sin. Ernst launches a series of bills to move federal workers out of D.C

Musk separately referred to a report from that it. Joni Ernst Pointing out, “If we exclude security guards and maintenance personnel, the number of government employees who attend in person and perform 40 hours of work per week is close to 1%!”

That’s “almost no one,” he added.

Accelerating government projects

In a Dec. 5 Post Routine. Musk and Ramaswamy say deregulation is a key part of DOGE’s goal, which is in line with Trump’s agenda.

Ramaswamy pointed out specific issues With how construction is hindered by regulations.

Modernizing and creating cost-effective government IT systems

“The federal government spends 80% of its $100 billion annual IT budget on maintaining legacy systems,” DOGE posted on X. “Not only are legacy systems more expensive to maintain, but they are also more vulnerable to hackers.”

Both Musk and Ramaswamy have written posts saying modernizing the technology is a priority, while Ramaswamy said it’s on DOGE’s “to-do list.”

National Institutes of Health (NIH): Returning Money to Taxpayers

In response to the DOGE publication that in 2023, the National Institutes of Health spent $759 million on workforce diversity and outreach, more than $611,000 on “Evaluating Microaggressions Among Latino Individuals with Obesity,” and $87,944 on “Role of estrous circulation and nucleus accumbens signaling incubation “Oxycodone.” Craving female rats, give that $$ back to the taxpayers,” Ramaswamy wrote.

Experts say reforming Medicaid and Medicare is critical and could save $2.1 trillion

Trump named Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as his nominee for director of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Ramaswamy noted that cost savings across the board could be expected under Robert Kennedy’s direction.

Federal Agencies: Fraud Losses

In response to a report that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion each year to fraud, Musk responded to X, saying: “Drop the hammer @DOGE.”

Foreign aid: investment transparency

“Here’s an easy way to @DOGE!” “Abolish foreign aid! It takes money from the poor and middle class in the United States and gives it to the rich in poor countries — on the cheap,” wrote longtime budget-cutting evangelist, former presidential candidate, and retired Congressman Dr. Ron Paul on X. Cut the facilitators between them! Americans do not want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid, and furthermore, it is an immoral and unconstitutional transfer of wealth.

“DOGE will address this matter with full transparency for the sake of the American people,” Musk responded.

Protect your Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits

The federal government’s largest spending programs are Social Security, followed by Medicare and Medicaid, among other mandatory obligations. While several options for amendments to address the sustainability of these programs have been put forward over the years, Ramaswamy said in a recent interview that it is not the role of the Ministry of Gender Equality to touch entitlements.

Ramaswamy told Axios at the Aspen Security Forum earlier this month that it would be premature to discuss any of the above entitlements through DOGE, saying such cuts would be a “political decision for voters” and their representatives in Congress.

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However, Ramaswamy noted that DOGE will look to stop sending taxpayer money to people who wrongly misappropriate funds under the programs.

He told the director “Right now, there are hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out the door of all these programs and ending up in the hands of people who, even by law, should not be receiving these payments.