While the promises of billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to cut government spending down to the bone sound a lot like previous failed attempts to root out supposed government waste, their plan promises to test the limits of presidential power and the power of private individuals to steer government.
Among the various purported goals of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — which will not be an official government department — Musk has promised to cut some $2 trillion from the federal budget and Ramaswamy has promised to fire more than 75% of the federal workforce. According to the ambitious billionaire duo, the Department of Education, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission may all be on the chopping block.
