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Author: Liz Napolitano, compiled by: Block unicorn
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami will co-lead a new U.S. government program designed to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The acronym of the program, called the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E), has the same abbreviation as Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency Dogecoin.According to President-elect Donald Trump, the plan will “cut off excess regulation, reduce wasteful spending, and reorganize federal agencies.”
However, some details of the project are still unclear.Here is all we know about DOGE at the moment.
What is DOGE?
DOGE is an upcoming plan by the U.S. government, first mentioned by Elon Musk in a tweet last August.
While the project initially looked like a joke (it was created just for jokes, and it wasn’t surprising that Dogecoin’s price would rise whenever Musk mentioned it), Trump’s DOGEThe initiative to cut government spending has expressed support, suggesting that the once-fictional division will actually become a real-life U.S. government affiliate.
“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami will work together to pave the way for my administration to remove government bureaucracy, cut redundant regulation, and reduceWaste spending and reorganizing federal agencies – this is crucial to the ‘Save America’ movement.”
Trump also noted that the project will last until “no later than July 4, 2026,” the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Declaration of Independence.
It is worth noting that, according to information on the U.S. Congress website, DOGE is not an official department of the U.S. government in the traditional sense, because only Congress (not the president) can approve the establishment of a new federal government department.
Trump said Musk’s Meme-related ideas will exist “outside” the government system.This means DOGE may not be supported by government funds.This also means that the project’s ability to directly control the budget of U.S. government agencies will be very limited, although DOGE’s directives may be implemented through Trump’s supporters in Congress.
Who will manage DOGE?
Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami will lead the government’s Ministry of Efficiency.Neither of them will be paid for the job, according to a Twitter post posted by Musk on Thursday.
Of course, Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of Twitter (now known as X).And Ramaswami, an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, withdrew from the campaign during the primary and turned to Trump.
According to an official post released by the department on Thursday, the plan is tentatively set to consist of a group of “extremely high IQ, supporters of small government revolutions” who are willing to work more than 80 hours a week to cut down on disgraceful costs.Elon Musk tweeted this week that it is not clear how many employees will be hired to work for the project, but that the jobs will be unpaid.
As of now, neither Ramaswami nor Musk have immediately responded to a request for comment from Decrypt.
What does DOGE actually do?
Trump said DOGE’s role is to streamline the U.S. government by publishing reports to provide advice and guidance on reducing government regulation and spending.
“Your money has been wasted, and the government’s Department of Efficiency will solve this problem. We will no longer let the government haunt you and no longer take money from your wallets.” Musk’s October special at Madison Square Garden in New York CityTrump said at the rally.
However, the billionaire leaders in the quasi-sector give different claims on how much the U.S. federal spending should be cut.
Musk suggested cutting federal spending by $2 million, accounting for one-third of the U.S. federal government’s total budget.Meanwhile, Ramaswami said he hopes to cut the U.S. federal staff by 75%, though the impact of such cuts on the budget is unclear.
Despite these differences, according to recent public comments by Ramaswami and Musk, DOGE leaders seem to unanimously agree to lay off a large number of federal government employees and several U.S. agencies, such as the Department of Education and the FBI, toCut costs.
“The government’s money wasted more than the public imagined,” Musk said on Twitter Thursday, referring to more than $6 trillion in U.S. federal spending in 2023.
Musk also said DOGE will hold a live broadcast every week to share its progress.
Why is it called DOGE?
The acronym DOGE of the virtual division seems to be a playful reference to Dogecoin, a high-cap meme coin that Elon Musk loves.The link was further strengthened through a T-shirt officially sold by Trump, which featured the patterns of President-elect Trump, Musk and a Shiba Inu.
This emoticon package, known for its Shiba Inu mascot, was invented in 2013 by a pair of software engineers.Musk has said he owns a “pack of” Dogecoin, which he has often talked about on Twitter over the past few years.In 2021, he even called himself the “father of dogs” and mentioned the token while hosting Saturday Night Live.
Dogecoin’s value rose all the way during Musk’s support for Trump’s campaign, and then soared after Trump won and officially announced the DOGE leadership.Dogecoin hit its highest price in three years last week and drove the value of other well-known Meme coins to soar.
