WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump picked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, to lead an effort to cut spending, eliminate regulations and restructure federal agencies.
Trump said in a statement Tuesday night that Ramaswamy and Musk—the wealthiest person in the world, who oversees six companies—would lead what the president-elect called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The group’s mandate is to streamline government bureaucracy, the president-elect said.
DOGE will operate outside of the federal government, Trump said, and will work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to implement its recommendations.
Musk isn’t expected to become an official government employee, meaning he likely wouldn’t be required to divest from his business empire.
Trump gave Musk and Ramaswamy a deadline of July 4, 2026—amid the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations, and just months before the midterm elections—to complete their work.
“A smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” he said. “I am confident they will succeed!”
Musk has previously said that he hopes to cut federal spending by at least $2 trillion, a goal that outside analysts said would be difficult to achieve. In fiscal 2024, the government spent roughly $6.8 trillion.
Musk’s super PAC, America PAC, spent roughly $200 million in support of Trump during the presidential election. The billionaire has become one of the president-elect’s closest advisers, according to people with knowledge of the matter, sitting in on transition meetings, offering input on personnel picks and spending one-on-one time with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The acronym for the new group, DOGE, echoes the name of dogecoin, the cryptocurrency Musk has frequently promoted online.
Trump and his advisers have promised to revive and expand measures the then-president put in place in his first term to cut red tape and make it easier to fire federal employees.
In 2020, shortly before leaving office, Trump issued an executive order that exempted some positions across the federal workforce from competitive hiring procedures and civil-service protections. The order gave the administration wide discretion to determine which civil-service positions would become “at will” appointments, meaning it would generally be easier to dismiss employees.
Biden, upon taking office, undid the executive order. Trump’s advisers say he will impose a potentially more expansive version of it.
In his first term, Trump imposed a mandate requiring that federal agencies repeal two regulations for every new regulation they put forward. During a September speech laying out his economic agenda, Trump said that during his second term, he would eliminate a minimum of 10 existing regulations for every new one he proposes.
As a presidential candidate, Ramaswamy made eliminating government waste a central part of his campaign. Among the agencies Ramaswamy called for eliminating: the Education Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Trump has also called for abolishing the Education Department.
But closing a federal agency is easier said than done, according to veteran government employees of both parties. It would require action from Congress, and might be difficult even if Republicans maintain control of the House. The GOP will have a majority in the Senate next year.
Dana Mattioli contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com
