Musk, Indian-origin Ramaswamy to head body to trim US govt: What is DOGE

The acronym DOGE seems a nod to dogecoin, the cryptocurrency Musk has long promoted.

What is DOGE, and what will be its role and functions?

What will DOGE do?

In effect, DOGE will be the USA’s version of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. The Republican Party has for long advocated a leaner government, with fewer red tape regulations and fewer taxes. However, Trump’s initiative of hiring two super-wealthy men to trim government expenses is unprecedented.

According to the statement the President-elect put out, Musk and Ramaswamy will restructure government departments as well as finances. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement. “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” his statement said.

Musk put out some posts on X to give an idea of how the department will work. “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency. Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know! We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining,” he posted.

Ramaswamy said on X, “DOGE will soon begin crowdsourcing examples of government waste, fraud, & and abuse. Americans voted for drastic government reform & they deserve to be part of fixing it.”

The posts by the three men are the major indications about what DOGE will do, because no details are available on exactly how the department will be set up, how it will go about doing its work, or who will be appointed to it.

How will Department of Government Efficiency work?

Trump’s statement makes it clear that DOGE will not be a government department. “The Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” he said.

This is seen as a way to ensure that Musk and Ramaswamy can continue in their current roles in their business ventures. If they had become federal employees, rules governing their appointment would have kicked in.

The department is supposed to finish its work by July 4, 2026, the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence.

While Trump has called DOGE “The Manhattan Project of our time” — the programme that developed the USA’s first nuclear bomb — many others are less enthused.

Critics have pointed out that appointing two businessmen into such positions of power will raise questions of conflict of interest. Musk, for example, has run afoul of government regulations in several of his projects. Also, neither has any experience of governance, which, apart from corporate-style efficiency, needs to carry out several welfare functions.

Some have said that setting up a separate body to cut expenses — presumably with its own staff and budget — will also end up running up expenses.