Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are set to take the reins of the brand new \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d (DOGE) under President-elect Trump \u2014 a panel with bold ambitions of slashing government costs and restructuring federal agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it is likely to face numerous roadblocks in its efforts to effect change in the next administration given its seemingly advisory role, experts said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the executive branch that might be in their way. The Congress might be in their way. The Constitution is a bit of an obstacle,\u201d said Douglas Holtz-Eakin,<\/u><\/a> president of American Action Forum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOther than that, clear sailing,\u201d he told The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump announced Tuesday evening that the pair of tech entrepreneurs would jointly lead the panel, which will \u201cprovide advice and guidance from outside of Government.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It will partner with the White House and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to \u201cdrive large scale structural reform,\u201d with its work set to conclude by July 4, 2026, Trump said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will become, potentially, \u2018The Manhattan Project\u2019 of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of \u2018DOGE\u2019 for a very long time,\u201d the president-elect said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The panel created an official government account Wednesday on the social platform X \u2014 which is owned by Musk \u2014 writing, \u201cWorking overtime to ensure your tax dollars will be spent wisely!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk and Trump previously discussed the prospect of a cost-cutting panel during the campaign, as the tech titan threw his support behind the Republican candidate with multimillion-dollar contributions to his own pro-Trump super PAC and amplifications of Trump\u2019s message on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While DOGE is now set to become a reality, experts are skeptical about what it will actually be able to accomplish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt sounds to me like an outside commission that will give OMB recommendations on what they think should be done to improve government efficiency, and as such its powers are entirely advisory,\u201d Holtz-Eakin said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have any authority to do anything other than say, \u2018We think this will be good,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cEvidently, Mr. Musk has a lot of free time, and if he wants to waste it, that\u2019s fine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Government commissions such as DOGE typically have a large staff and budget and produce a formal report with recommendations for Congress, explained Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut since this was not created by Congress, we don\u2019t know what its authority is and what status it has,\u201d West said. \u201cI mean, any American can make suggestions on ways to cut the government budget, but the question \u2014 is anybody going to pay serious attention to this?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Any major budget cuts would have to be approved by Congress, he noted. While Republicans have secured control of both chambers, they are likely to have a narrow majority in the House and lack a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not clear that any draconian measure is going to see the light of day,\u201d West said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Musk\u2019s close relationship with Trump is notable. The billionaire spent election night with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago, watching the results roll in, and Trump thanked the Tesla and SpaceX CEO in his victory speech, calling him a \u201cstar.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the days since the election, Musk has reportedly remained at Mar-a-Lago with the president-elect, sitting in on meetings and phone calls, including with world leaders, according to The New York Times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk also joined Trump at a Wednesday meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, where the president-elect joked, \u201cElon won\u2019t go home. I can\u2019t get rid of him. Until I don\u2019t like him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump met with Biden later that day, marking his first visit to the Oval Office since leaving the presidency in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMusk has the ear of the president, so people have to take it seriously just for that reason,\u201d West told The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans will also have two shots at passing major legislation through budget reconciliation, which could give Trump and the GOP several chances to enact sweeping changes without having to clear a Senate filibuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk had said much of DOGE\u2019s focus will be on what the panel considers egregious misuses of federal spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!\u201d Musk posted Tuesday night<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining,\u201d Musk continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after the idea was floated earlier this year, ethics experts and former government officials raised concerns that Musk holding dual roles in his tech companies and the Trump administration could be a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tesla and SpaceX have contracts worth billions of dollars with the same federal agencies he is likely to work with in his advisory role. This could risk the panel\u2019s objectivity and fairness, some experts argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the panel\u2019s name, DOGE, is a nod to a cryptocurrency often touted by Musk: Dogecoin, which riffs off a mid-2010\u2019s meme featuring a Shiba Inu. Dogecoin\u2019s value was up more than 90 percent over the past week as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHanding the keys of government to those looking to profit from our government is extremely dangerous and a massive conflict of interest,\u201d Zach Moller, economic program director at Third Way, a center-left think tank, said in a statement. \u201cThe idea of a Musk-run government efficiency commission is a farce and will lead to more waste, fraud, and rampant abuse of political power.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmericans would be right to suspect that Musk would use his newfound government powers to throw a lifeline to his teetering companies,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts further pointed to Musk\u2019s controversies and legal challenges at his other companies and how this could be a hint of his leadership style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMusk not only knows nothing about government efficiency and regulation, his own businesses have regularly run afoul of the very rules he will be in position to attack in his new \u2018czar\u2019 position,\u201d Lisa Gilbert, the co-president of progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, wrote Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n