Musk brings Trump’s government efficiency push to Capitol Hill

06 December 2024 - 08:30 By Andy Sullivan and David Morgan and Richard Cowan
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US president-elect Donald Trump named Tesla CEO Elon Musk, pictured, and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the department of government efficiency. File photo.
US president-elect Donald Trump named Tesla CEO Elon Musk, pictured, and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the department of government efficiency. File photo.
Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / File photo

Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy met on Thursday with Republican lawmakers whose support they will need to win the sweeping spending cuts US president-elect Donald Trump has asked them to find.

Trump named the two entrepreneurs to head a task force that aims for a sweeping overhaul of the US government, which spent $6.8-trillion (R122.6-trillion) in the most recent fiscal year. Musk has set a target of $2-trillion (R36-trillion) in savings, though he has not said whether that would come in a single year or over a longer time.

The two chairs of the department of government efficiency have called for the firing thousands of federal workers, slashing regulations and eliminating programmes whose authorisation has expired, such as veterans' healthcare.

That could be easier said than done. Any changes to veterans' benefits or other popular programmes that serve millions of Americans would likely encounter fierce blowback, and efforts to thin the workforce could disrupt everything from law enforcement to air traffic control.

"We want to help him in any way we can. He's got a big mission. But we all think the effort they're undertaking is long overdue," senator John Thune, who will lead the Republican majority next year, told reporters after meeting with Musk.

Musk, who earlier rushed through the Capitol's crowded corridors clutching the hand of a small child, offered few details on how he will try to accomplish his sweeping cost-cutting goals.

"I think we need to make sure we spend the public's money well," said Musk.

The billionaire CEO of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX addressed only one specific policy when asked about electric vehicle tax credits, responding: "I think we should get rid of all credits."

Musk's companies benefit from federal contracts and tax breaks and also are subject to regulatory oversight, raising concerns that his involvement with the efficiency panel creates a conflict of interest.

Ramaswamy met separately with a group of Senate Republicans including Thom Tillis, who said afterward they discussed actions the Trump administration could take on its own, rather than those that would require legislation.

"Is this an administrative action that doesn't require congressional approval? Rock on. Do it now or do it after January 20," he told reporters.

As co-chairs of the efficiency task force, Musk and Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive, would likely have to work with Congress to secure significant reductions.

Republicans will control both chambers of Congress and the White House next year, but they may struggle to win significant reductions. While lawmakers sign off on roughly $1.7-trillion in defence and domestic programmes each year, most federal spending consists of health, pension and other benefit programmes that lie outside the annual budget process. Lawmakers also have no control over interest payments, which are projected to top $1-trillion in this fiscal year.

Republican lawmakers have said they are eager to cooperate. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right firebrand, will chair a House of Representatives panel to work with Musk and Ramaswamy, and Senate lawmakers have also expressed openness to the idea. Republicans secured limited spending cuts in a 2023 showdown with Democratic President Joe Biden, but have been unable to agree on further reductions since then.

Trump has broken with former Republican orthodoxy by saying he will not cut benefits for the social security pension plan or the Medicare health plan for seniors, which together account for more than one-third of federal spending.

Trump showed little interest in spending cuts during his first 2017-2021 term in office, when federal expenditures grew from $4-trillion to $6.2-trillion. Congress did not act on his proposal to eliminate more than a dozen small government agencies and failed to repeal Democratic former president Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act, a central goal of the party.

Reuters


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