WASHINGTON — One of President-elect Donald Trump’s top priorities when he returns to the White House is launching what he calls a Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.”

He’s tasked two supporters – the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy – with running it from outside the government. The two men are set to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday to discuss their plans.

What You Need To Know

  • Billionaire Elon Musk and millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy are slated to visit Capitol Hill on Thursday to talk with lawmakers about the forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency

  • Trump tasked the two men with leading the new agency from outside government, with sweeping pledges to shrink the federal workforce and cut costs

  • Experts say over 2.3 million federal workers are waiting to see what that means for their jobs, many of which are for essential services like airport security and Veterans Affairs hospitals

“One of the things that's absolutely clear is that this is just not business as usual, and we're only beginning to see what's going to happen,” said Don Kettl, a member of the National Academy of Public Administration. 

DOGE already has a social media account with two million followers that is boosted by Musk and Ramaswamy, but what exactly it will do remains a mystery.

“Many of these agencies should be down-sized, wherever they are, and for whatever does remain, move many of them out to be where they’re more accountable to the people,” Ramaswamy told Fox News last month, outlining broad and lofty goals of shrinking the federal government and cutting waste.

When he ran for president last year, Ramaswamy often spoke of shutting down the FBI, the IRS, and more. 

“These are issues that many Americans are behind, but very few politicians are willing to talk about in the open,” he told Spectrum News in April 2023. “Shutting down government agencies, like the Department of Education at the federal level, that should’ve never existed in the first place.”

Kettl said there are more than 2.3 million federal employees and 85% of them work outside of Washington in places like TSA checkpoints at airports and Veterans Affairs hospitals.

“A lot of feds are actually doing things that people would never want to cut,” he said.

Kettl said the scope of what DOGE will actually be able to do remains unclear because it won’t be an official government department authorized by Congress and, he added, a president can’t eliminate federal agencies without approval from Congress.

“I think the best way to think about it is a kind of holding company for big new ideas, as well as a pipeline for people from the outside to get into government,” Kettl said.

As Ramaswamy and Musk prepare to meet with lawmakers, Kettl said many federal workers are worried about their futures as they wait to hear what might actually happen.