Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is heading to Capitol Hill Thursday to lobby for a dramatic $2 trillion reduction in the federal budget – a level of austerity unseen since the end of World War II, Bloomberg reports.
The initiative, spearheaded by Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to significantly reshape US government spending.
The effort, playfully dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), will operate outside the government, with Musk and Ramaswamy acting as advisors. They will meet with various lawmakers, culminating in a session with all Republican House members, organized by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who will chair a new House subcommittee dedicated to this goal.
While many Republican lawmakers are supportive, echoing a key pledge from President-elect Donald Trump, the ambitious plan faces significant hurdles. The $2 trillion target surpasses the annual spending on government agency operations, including defense, and would necessitate deep cuts to major entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits – all politically sensitive areas.
Last fiscal year, the government spent over $6.75 trillion, with over $5.3 trillion allocated to Social Security, healthcare, defense, and veterans’ benefits alone. The duo has also floated the idea of impoundment – not spending all appropriated funds – a strategy that has already drawn bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers like top Republican appropriator Susan Collins have strongly defended Congress’s power of the purse and the 1974 law restricting impoundment.
Musk’s close relationship with President-elect Trump, including involvement in presidential calls and cabinet selections, gives the initiative significant political weight. However, the inherent difficulty of implementing such drastic cuts is underscored by the billions of dollars in federal benefits Musk’s own companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have received over the years.
