DOGE will clean out more than just the government.
Vivek Ramaswamy says the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”), which he’s working on in partnership with Elon Musk, will be able to cut government contracting costs substantially, fire useless employees, and identify entire government agencies that can be dumped. If DOGE works, there’ll be no more $250 hammers and four-martini-fueled lunches billed to the Feds.
I hope this is so because the DC sewer is long overdue for a total flush-out. (It’s not really a swamp, as some have said because swamps are ecologically sound and serve an important role in the environment). However, I fear legions of far-left lawyers floating to the rescue of the DC sewer. Even if unsuccessful, they may gum up the works and delay positive action. I pray these lawyers will fail miserably.
The first target for agency removal is the Department of Education because the Feds have no mandate in the Constitution to promote education. This is solely a state mandate. The steps to abolish Federal education are as follows. First, Trump cuts off all funding to the department. Second, all education employees are locked out of the department offices in DC and nationwide. Third and finally, SCOTUS holds that no federal education department is allowed. This would be a precedent for removing similar agencies en masse (see more on that subject here).
Let’s assume Ramaswamy and Musk successfully abolish the US Department of Education and Federal agencies/employees far beyond. What will that mean for America? There are several important results.
The benefits to taxpayers are obvious. The DC mode of operation is never to cut even one dollar from the federal budget. An efficient budget would not just mean lower taxes but a return to responsible government. Citizens could take heart in knowing that their government was exercising careful expenditures instead of wild spending on crazy projects, just as individuals are required to exercise thrift in their expenditures.
There is a general rule in government budgeting and expenditures: If your agency has money left over at the end of the year, you never give it back. If you did, you would signal that you did not need as much money next year. What to do? You spend the money any way you can to ensure you have nothing left at the end of the year. This is a rule written in concrete at all levels of government. If taxpayers knew this, there would be an outcry. But they don’t generally know.
Here’s how that has been working under the radar:
This fiscal year-end scramble to spend every last dime allocated to government agencies is not just a quirk of bureaucracy; it’s a systemic issue that perpetuates the ever-swelling cost of government. Here’s how this entrenched practice contributes to the uncontrolled growth of government expenditure:
The “Use It or Lose It” Mentality:
Agencies operate under the assumption that unspent funds will result in reduced budgets in the following fiscal year. This leads to a mad dash to spend down the budget, often on non-essential or hastily conceived projects. Items purchased might not be the most cost-effective or necessary, but the act of spending becomes the priority over prudent financial management.
Encouragement of Waste:
This practice incentivizes waste. Agencies might rush into contracts, purchase unnecessary equipment, or commit to projects just to burn through remaining funds. The result is often government warehouses filled with unused office supplies or technology that becomes obsolete before it’s even used, all because the money had to be spent.
Inflated Future Budgets:
By spending all allocated funds, agencies set a precedent for higher budgetary needs in the next cycle. This creates an artificial growth in the baseline budget, as next year’s allocation is based on this year’s spending, regardless of necessity. Over time, this leads to an ever-increasing government budget that doesn’t necessarily reflect actual service demands or operational efficiencies.
Lack of Accountability:
There’s little incentive for agencies to be frugal or to save for unexpected needs. This lack of accountability means that the natural checks and balances of good financial stewardship are absent. Instead, the focus is on spending to ensure future funding, which can lead to poor resource allocation and inefficiency.
Distortion of Priorities:
The pressure to spend can distort an agency’s priorities from serving public interest to merely meeting budget targets. Programs or initiatives that could be postponed or canceled for the sake of fiscal responsibility are instead fast-tracked, potentially leading to suboptimal policy outcomes or even wasteful spending.
Public Disengagement:
The public, largely unaware of this practice, remains passive while budgets balloon. If taxpayers understood that their hard-earned money is being spent in a race against the fiscal clock rather than for the public good, there might be significant pressure for reform. However, the opacity of government spending details keeps this practice out of the public eye.
Erosion of Fiscal Discipline:
Over time, this cycle of spend-or-lose undermines fiscal discipline. There’s no reward for efficiency or saving, which might otherwise lead to better financial management practices. Instead, the system encourages a culture where spending equals success, regardless of the outcomes.
Impact on Policy Development:
Policy decisions might be influenced more by the need to utilize funds than by strategic planning. This can result in policy that’s more about spending money than solving problems, leading to initiatives that might not have been necessary or could have been implemented in a more cost-effective way.
This ingrained practice in government budgeting not only leads to direct fiscal irresponsibility but also contributes indirectly to a culture where the growth of government spending is seen as inevitable rather than a result of systemic flaws. Addressing this would require a cultural shift in how government agencies are incentivized, potentially through reforms that reward efficiency, savings, and strategic financial planning over mere expenditure.
Enter President Donald Trump’s DOGE initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by luminaries like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, poised to tackle this systemic budgetary bloat head-on. DOGE aims to revolutionize government spending by implementing rigorous financial oversight, incentivizing savings rather than spending, and applying private sector efficiency principles to public sector operations. By auditing every line item, identifying and eliminating wasteful programs, and restructuring agencies to focus on outcomes rather than outlays, DOGE promises to dismantle the archaic ‘use it or lose it’ practice. This initiative isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about rethinking how government resources are managed, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, transparently, and with maximum impact. Trump’s vision with DOGE is clear: to curb the unchecked growth of government costs, introduce accountability where there was none, and return the government to a state of financial prudence that serves the American people, not bureaucratic inertia.
CATO Institute: Government Reform: DOGE + E
President-elect Trump should add “and Elimination” to his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The federal government has grown far too large to be managed efficiently. Even if federal workers were highly industrious, and even if politicians were laser-focused on the public interest, the government’s vast size would still create failure after failure. To achieve efficiency, we need major program eliminations. We need a DOGEE.
Federal spending in 2024 of $6.75 trillion was almost 100 times larger than spending by the average state government of $68 billion, as shown in the figure. The average state legislature oversees a budget the size of a bungalow, but Congress (is supposed to) oversee a budget the size of the Empire State Building.
Economist Milton Friedman said, “The tragedy is that because government is doing so many things it ought not to be doing, it performs the functions it ought to be performing badly.” We all know that is true, yet Congress keeps adding more agencies, programs, and spending.
There are 441 federal agencies, as Elon Musk noted. Those agencies run more than 2,400 subsidy programs, have imposed 188,000 pages of regulations, and buy more than $750 billion a year of goods and services. The federal government owns 640 million acres of land and owns or leases almost 300,000 buildings. The federal government is massive in size and sprawling in scope.
The House will be creating a DOGE subcommittee to work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. But we really need a DOGEE, with the elimination part coming first.
WSJ – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: The DOGE Plan to Reform Government
Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government. That isn’t how America functions today. Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year. Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures aren’t made by the democratically elected president or even his political appointees but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies who view themselves as immune from firing thanks to civil-service protections.
This is antidemocratic and antithetical to the Founders’ vision. It imposes massive direct and indirect costs on taxpayers. Thankfully, we have a historic opportunity to solve the problem. On Nov. 5, voters decisively elected Donald Trump with a mandate for sweeping change, and they deserve to get it.
President Trump has asked the two of us to lead a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to cut the federal government down to size. The entrenched and ever-growing bureaucracy represents an existential threat to our republic, and politicians have abetted it for too long. That’s why we’re doing things differently. We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.
We are assisting the Trump transition team to identify and hire a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America. This team will work in the new administration closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings. We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws. Our North Star for reform will be the U.S. Constitution, with a focus on two critical Supreme Court rulings issued during President Biden’s tenure.
With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government. We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail. Now is the moment for decisive action. Our top goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026—the expiration date we have set for our project. 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.