President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new government agency focused on regulating federal spending.
In a statement released Tuesday, Trump referred to the new agency as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE,) an acronym that is an apparent wink to the dog-themed cryptocurrency by the same name that started as a joke and skyrocketed after Musk promoted it.
While it is not yet clear whether this entity will exist within the federal government or outside, an official government agency cannot be created without an act of Congress.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump wrote. “I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans.”
The move by Trump marks another deviation from political tradition in assembling a new administration. It’s also a continuation of Trump’s relationships with both Musk and Ramaswamy, businessmen who are both relatively new to politics but have become close allies of the incoming president.
On the campaign trail, Trump spoke of creating a role in the federal government for Musk, who is the richest man in the world and owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X.
Musk has become an increasingly influential voice in conservative politics. He first proposed a “government efficiency commission” that would monitor federal agencies during a conversation he had with Trump on X. Since winning the presidential election, Trump and Musk have remained in close orbit.
The appointment also brings Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, officially into Trump’s administration after he was reported to have once been under consideration for vice president.
“We will not go gently,” Ramaswamy said in a post on X in response to the news while tagging Musk, who commented separately in Trump’s original announcement.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said.