 "‘Musk not Doge administrator, has no authority to make govt decisions’: White House")
Even as Elon Musk has amassed unprecedented powers in the US government, his exact role and that of his brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), remains unclear. In a court filing on Monday, the White House said that Musk is not the head of Doge and has no decision-making authority.
The White House said in a court filing that Musk is an employee of the White House and holds the designation of Senior Advisor to the President, not that of the head of Doge, according to Reuters.
Despite White House’s claim, Musk has been calling the shots at Doge, which has taken over nearly every major federal government body and has conducted en masse firings. He and Doge have also been at the forefront of the Donald Trump administration’s misinformation campaign, misrepresenting subscriptions to media organisations and contracts awarded to organisations as something nefarious done by the previous Democratic administration.
Even though Doge’s place within the federal government had always been shady, the latest revelation leads to the question that if Musk is not the head of Doge, then who is the head of Doge and how is Musk calling shots at the agency.
A court filing signed by Joshua Fisher, the Director of the Office of Administration at the White House, said that Musk can only advise the president and communicate the president’s directives, according to Reuters.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” said the filing.
The filing further said that “Mr Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator”.
Impact Shorts
View AllEven though Trump has hailed Doge as a flagship initiative to cut purported wasteful government expenditure, it has come under criticism for arm-twisting government official and taking decisions with little legal basis. Moreover, on the pretext of cutting purported wasteful expenditure, critics have said that Musk has cut spending on health, medical research, food banks, etc.
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