Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy explained their plan to reform the US government structure

 The CEO and owner of SpaceX and the former Republican pre-candidate for the White House wrote a column in The Wall Street Journal in which they explained how they think about the new state under the presidency of Donald Trump

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and author of the book Truths: The Future of America First, have been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump as leaders of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). acronym in English). The announcement, made through a joint article published in The Wall Street Journal, details an ambitious plan to profoundly reform the United States government apparatus by eliminating regulations, reducing staff and saving costs.

“The federal government in its current form represents an existential threat to our republic,” Musk and Ramaswamy said. According to their proposal, the excessive growth of bureaucracy and the power of unelected officials has generated a system that they describe as “undemocratic and contrary to the vision of the Founders.”

DOGE: A Vision of Government Restructuring

The article notes that Musk and Ramaswamy, acting as “entrepreneurs, not politicians,” will lead a team dedicated to cutting federal bureaucracy. Both will act as outside volunteers, not government employees, and will work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to implement a plan focused on three pillars:

Rescinding Regulations: DOGE will review federal regulations deemed unconstitutional in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including West Virginia v. EPA (2022), which limits agencies’ ability to impose economic rules without congressional authorization, and Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), which removes the principle of judicial deference to agencies in interpreting their own powers. According to Musk and Ramaswamy, “a multitude of current federal regulations exceed the authority Congress has granted under law.”

• Reducing Administrative Staff: DOGE will identify the minimum number of employees needed for each agency to fulfill its constitutional and statutory functions. 

• “The number of federal employees to be cut should be at least proportional to the number of regulations rescinded,” leaders state. Affected employees will receive early retirement incentives or severance payments to ease their transition to the private sector. 

• Federal Spending Savings: DOGE will review more than $500 billion in spending deemed unauthorized by Congress, including $535 million annually for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion in grants to international organizations. They also plan to audit federal contracts and temporarily suspend payments to identify potential savings.

Use of executive orders and judicial precedents

Musk and Ramaswamy stressed that DOGE will work closely with legal experts within government agencies to apply the Supreme Court rulings to existing regulations. “We will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who may, through executive action, immediately pause the application of those rules and initiate their review and rescission,” they explained.

Both defended the use of executive orders to reverse what they call “executive overreach” of regulations enacted without legislative approval. “The president owes legislative deference to Congress, not bureaucrats within federal agencies,” they wrote in the column.

DOGE also plans to drastically reduce federal employee headcount, in line with the elimination of regulations. “Federal employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect,” they said, while emphasizing that their goal is to support their transition to the private sector.

Other proposals include relocating agencies out of Washington, D.C., and requiring in-person attendance at offices five days a week. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t be paying them for the privilege of staying home,” they said.

Audits and fiscal transparency

The department also plans to audit federal spending, highlighting cases like the Pentagon, which has failed seven consecutive audits despite managing an annual budget of more than $800 billion, according to the authors. “Many federal contracts have not been reviewed for years,” they said, suggesting that a temporary audit would help identify unnecessary spending.

Both also acknowledged that they will face criticism from vested interests in Washington. “With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity to make structural reductions in the federal government. We are prepared for the onslaught of entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail,” they said.

Finally, Musk and Ramaswamy indicated that DOGE has a set deadline for its existence: July 4, 2026, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the United States. “Our goal is to eliminate the need for our existence,” they concluded, stating that this would be “the best birthday present we could give our nation.”

The initiative marks a radical change in approach to government management, in line with the “small government” philosophy promoted by Trump during his campaign.