Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy point to DOGE targets

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are dropping hints about where the co-leads of President-elect Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will focus its efforts on trimming federal spending when the new administration takes over in January.

Musk, the wealthiest person in the world who is known for his ambitious goals, has set an aim to slash $2 trillion in federal spending under the initiative, while Ramaswamy, a billionaire in his own right, has said entire agencies will be "deleted" under DOGE's recommendations.

IRS: Simplifying U.S. tax code policy
"In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code. Today, there are more than 16 million words," DOGE posted to its X account on Nov. 15. "Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year. This must be simplified."

Department of Defense (DOD): The Pentagon's chronic audit failing
Two days after the previously cited post, DOGE flagged that the Department of Defense had failed its 7th straight audit last month, noting that the DOD once again cannot fully account for its budget – which was $824 billion.

When Musk saw the news about the Pentagon's latest failed audit, we wrote on X, "Sounds like a job for @DOGE!"

n a subsequent post, Ramaswamy noted that the Department of Education (DOE) just failed its third consecutive audit and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) "showed significant deficiencies." He also threw red flags about AmericCorp's budget, calling all the findings, "Utterly unacceptable" before adding, "Time for DOGE.

Congress: $516B Authorized for expired programs
"In FY2024, U.S. Congress provided $516 billion to programs whose authorizations previously expired under federal law," the DOGE X account posted on Nov. 16. "Nearly $320 billion of that $516 billion expired more a decade ago."

Federal workforce: Ending government employees' working from home option
DOGE and its co-leads have vowed repeatedly to end telework for federal employees, and flagged the Biden administration's last-minute deal extending 42,000 Social Security Administration (SSA) employees work-from-home privileges for another five years – after President-elect Trump leaves office.

ERNST VOWS TO WORK WITH DOGE TO REVERSE BIDEN ADMIN'S TELEWORK EXTENSION FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

Ramaswamy says a majority of federal workers do not show up to the office, and pointed to the fact that the U.S. government owns thousands of vacant buildings, which he called, "nuts" and "a job for DOGE."

Musk separately pointed to a report from Sen. Joni Ernst indicating that "If you exclude security guards & maintenance personnel, the number of government workers who show up in person and do 40 hours of work a week is closer to 1%!."

He added, that's "Almost no one."

Expediting government projects
In an X post on Dec. 5, DOGE pointed to a slew of federal projects that were delayed for years due to red tape. Musk and Ramaswamy say deregulation is a key part of DOGE's purpose, which is in line with Trump's agenda.

Ramaswamy pointed to particular issues with how construction is being hindered by regulations.

Modernizing and finding cost-effective government IT systems
"The Federal government spends 80% of its annual $100 billion IT budget on maintaining outdated systems," DOGE posted on X. "Not only are older systems more expensive to maintain, but they are also more vulnerable to hackers."

Musk and Ramaswamy both wrote posts saying updating tech is a priority, with Ramaswamy saying, it is on DOGE's "to-do list."

In response to a DOGE post that in 2023 NIH spent $759 million on workforce diversity and outreach, over $611,000 on "Evaluating Microaggressions among Latinx Individuals with Obesity," and $87,944 on the "Role of the estrous cycle and nucleus accumbens signaling on incubation of oxycodone craving in female rats," Ramaswamy wrote, "Return this $$ to the taxpayers."

Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as nominee to serve as director of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Ramaswamy signaled cost-savings can be anticipated across the board under RFK's watch.

Federal agencies: Fraud losses
In response to a report that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion each year due to fraud, Musk replied on X, "Drop the @DOGE hammer."

Foreign aid: Investment transparency
"Here’s an easy one for @DOGE!" longtime budget-cutting evangelist, former presidential candidate, and retired Congressman Dr. Ron Paul wrote on X. "ELIMINATE foreign aid! It’s taking money from the poor and middle class in the US and giving it to the rich in poor countries - with a cut to the facilitators in between! Americans don’t want their government to borrow more money to spend on foreign aid. Besides, it is the immoral transfer of wealth and is unconstitutional."

Musk responded, "@DOGE will address this with full transparency for the American people."

Protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits
Most of the largest spending program in the federal government is Social Security, followed by Medicare and Medicaid, along with other mandatory obligations. While several options for adjustments have been floated to address the sustainability of these programs over the years, Ramaswamy said in a recent interview that touching entitlements is not DOGE's role.

Ramaswamy told Axios at the Aspen Security Forum earlier this month that it would be premature to discuss any of the aforementioned entitlements through DOGE, saying such cuts would be "a policy decision that belongs to the voters" and their representatives in Congress.

However, Ramaswamy signaled that DOGE will be looking to stop sending taxpayer dollars to people who are wrongly pocketing funds under the programs.

He told the outlet, "Right now, there are hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out the door of all of those programs ending up in the hands of people who, even under the statute, should not be receiving those payments."