DOGE: 5 things to know about Musk and Ramaswamy's brainchild as Trump aims to overhaul US federal agencies

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy shared an outline of what’s in store as they gear up to take the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In a lengthy op-ed, which was published in The Wall Street Journal, the two entrepreneurs shared the key aspects they will be focusing on after assuming the office.

The department was introduced by President-elect Donald Trump, who came to power after winning the 2024 US Presidential Election against US Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Wednesday, Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their vision for DOGE. In the past, both business moguls claimed that their initiatives would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.

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Here are some of the key aspects of Musk and Ramaswamy’s DOGE plan:

1. Musk and Ramaswamy will be outside volunteers and not federal employees

In the op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy made it clear that they would “serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees.” This way, they don’t have to divest from their businesses. DOGE employees will be working closely with the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the president’s budget requests for Congress.

2. DOGE turns to Supreme Court rulings for its existence

In the WSJ op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy said that their goal for deep reform is based on two rulings of the US Supreme Court. The first was West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022), in which the court restricted the agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions.

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The second one was the Loper Bright v. Raimondo, delivered this year, in which the court overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984). The Chevron decision dictated that federal courts should defer to federal agencies in their interpretation of statutes. Both rulings stripped the federal powers of the federal agencies significantly. The pair insisted that the department would be a major step in remedying what they deem to be “executive overreach.”

3. Musk and Ramaswamy plan to attack public media and Planned Parenthood

The duo said that DOGE plans to “take aim at the $500 billion-plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended.” While they did not detail the programs to target, they took the names of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Planned Parenthood, along with other “progressive groups.”

4. Musk and Ramaswamy emphasize reducing the size of the federal workforce

The pair made it clear that there will be “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy.” They maintained that the department will work with federal agencies to identify the minimum number of staffers needed in a particular body.

“Employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect, and DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector,” they wrote. “The president can use existing laws to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit,” the duo added.

Musk and Ramaswamy noted that they will be relying “heavily” on executive actions and won’t aim to pass new laws in their roles.

5. DOGE will dissolve by July 4, 2026

While reiterating their fight to enact sweeping government reforms, Musk and Ramaswamy said that their objective for DOGE was to be phased out by July 4, 2026. “There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud,” the DOGE co-heads wrote.

With the outline of DOGE out in the world, it will be interesting to see how Democrats will react to the vision of the new department.