President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has yet to take flight, but its leaders are already pledging to streamline the federal government by axing thousands of regulations. Trump unveiled DOGE, helmed by Tesla chief Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, shortly after clinching the 2024 presidential election. The announcement sparked speculation in the corridors of power in Washington and its environs regarding the potential impact of an external entity during Trump’s second term.
Accompanying Trump on the campaign trail, Musk initially floated the idea that DOGE could slash $2 trillion in expenditures. Discretionary spending, which totaled approximately $1.7 trillion in 2023, falls under the purview of Congress, which controls the nation’s purse strings. Mandatory outlays in the same year stood at $3.8 trillion, with over half earmarked for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Musk recently indicated that DOGE aims to achieve $2 trillion in cuts, but the actual figure is likely to land at half that amount. In a live discussion on X with political strategist Mark Penn, Musk articulated, “I believe that aiming for $2 trillion gives us a solid chance of hitting $1 trillion.” He characterized the $2 trillion target as an optimistic scenario.
Mandatory spending, constituting roughly two-thirds of the federal budget, does not necessitate annual approval from Congress but adheres to existing legislation. Examples of mandatory spending include the Social Security Act, which mandates government disbursements to beneficiaries based on predetermined criteria. On the discretionary side, a significant portion of the budget typically caters to national defense.
John Kennerly Davis, a senior attorney at the Federalist Society and former deputy attorney general for Virginia, emphasized that DOGE faces crucial decisions in revamping federal regulations. While some factions advocate for enhancing existing regulations rather than outright elimination, Davis posited, “As deliberations on elimination versus refinement unfold, the president could explore a couple of executive orders aligning with the DOGE initiative, focusing on regulatory enhancements long sought by regulated entities.”
Davis proposed an executive order mandating that agencies afford regulated businesses additional time to navigate compliance, thereby averting the need for costly litigation. He highlighted the predicament companies confront with onerous regulations, grappling with the dilemma of non-compliance coupled with potential lawsuits or compliance entailing legal battles. Davis cautioned that such an executive directive might encounter legal challenges.
Trump articulated ambitious aspirations for DOGE, envisioning it as a modern-day equivalent to ‘The Manhattan Project.’ In November 2024, Trump remarked, “It may well evolve into the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our era. Republican policymakers have long harbored aspirations akin to those espoused by ‘DOGE.'” The original Manhattan Project was a wartime research and development endeavor culminating in the development of nuclear weaponry.
