Elon Musk and Ramaswamy unveil bold deregulation plan for Trump

Musk and Ramaswamy thus presented in the "WSJ" a plan for the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), an informal body they are set to lead as "external volunteers."

In the article, the businessmen supporting Donald Trump argue that, as a result of two decisions made by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court revoking regulatory powers from executive agencies (including environmental regulations), many of the existing rules introduced by them should be abolished.

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 – wrote the heads of DOGE.

They announced that they intend, along with employed experts and lawyers within individual agencies, to present Donald Trump with a list of thousands of regulations to be invalidated by issuing an order without Congress's consent.

They added that as a result of abolishing bureaucratic rules and taking away the agency's right to create them, there would be no justification for maintaining many federal officials, and mass layoffs should be proportional to the scale of the "drastic" deregulation.

"DOGE intends to work with individuals appointed to positions within agencies to determine the minimum number of employees required in an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and legally required functions," they wrote.

They argue that the law and Supreme Court decisions allow for mass layoffs of officials without Congress's consent. They also announced their intention to encourage officials to leave their jobs by eliminating remote work and relocating offices from Washington to other parts of the country.

Although they did not provide the number of officials they plan to lay off, Ramaswamy has previously proposed eliminating three-quarters of federal employees. Musk, on the other hand, promised that DOGE's activities would contribute to cutting expenses by £1.6 trillion (almost one-third of the entire annual budget), although most experts doubt this possibility.

Musk and Ramaswamy also announced cuts in unnecessary expenditures, including on international organisations.

The leaders of DOGE expressed readiness to face resistance from established interests in Washington, anticipating success. They emphasized that the greatest gift for the nation’s 250th anniversary would be establishing a federal government aligned with the vision of the Founders.

The creation of the "department," whose acronym refers to an internet meme and cryptocurrency of the same name, was announced by Donald Trump even during the election campaign. Similar initiatives to streamline the government and reduce spending were undertaken during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

The actions of the former led to the reduction of 300,000 federal jobs. On the other hand, the so-called Grace Commission - headed by businessman J. Peter Grace - presented recommendations for over 2,500 reforms, most of which were never implemented.