Musk, Ramaswamy lay out plans for ‘mass’ federal layoffs, rule rollbacks
Story by Julia Shapero, 11/20/24; News Nation
(The Hill) — Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday that their brand-new government efficiency panel will identify “thousands” of regulations for President-elect Donald Trump to eliminate, which they argue will justify “mass head-count reductions” across government.
The pair, who were named co-chairs of the panel last week, laid out their plans for the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
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“The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings,” they wrote. “We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws.”
Musk and Ramaswamy pointed to several recent Supreme Court decisions that have taken aim at the power of the administrative state, arguing that a “plethora of current federal regulations” exceed agency authority and could be on the chopping block.
Slashing regulations should allow for “at least” proportional cuts to the government workforce, they argue.
“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” the pair wrote in the op-ed.
“Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited,” they added.
Musk and Ramaswamy preemptively addressed arguments about civil service protections that could potentially block Trump from firing federal workers.
“The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation,” they wrote. “But the statute allows for ‘reductions in force’ that don’t target specific employees. The statute further empowers the president to ‘prescribe rules governing the competitive service.’ That power is broad.”
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“With this authority, Mr. Trump can implement any number of ‘rules governing the competitive service’ that would curtail administrative overgrowth, from large-scale firings to relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area,” they added.
Government workers are already mobilizing in the face of potential mass cuts, reportedly hiring lawyers and preparing public campaigns while also hoping Congress will step in, according to Reuters.
DOGE also hopes to take aim at “unauthorized” federal funding, which could impact everything from veterans’ health care and opioid addiction treatment to NASA, The Washington Post reported.
The op-ed seemingly seeks to address widespread skepticism about the ability of Musk and Ramaswamy’s panel to enact change.
As an outside-of-government commission, it would be limited to an advisory capacity, meaning it could face numerous obstacles from within the executive branch, as well as Congress, experts previously told The Hill.
However, Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect could be influential. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO played a key role in Trump’s campaign, contributing millions of dollars to his own pro-Trump super PAC and getting out on the campaign trail.
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Since Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month, Musk has remained close at hand; the billionaire tech mogul joined the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on election night to watch the results roll in and later received a shoutout in Trump’s victory speech.
Musk has spent much of his time at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort over the past two weeks, reportedly weighing in on Trump’s Cabinet picks and attending meetings, including those with world leaders.
He also hosted Trump in Texas to observe the launch of a SpaceX rocket Tuesday afternoon.