Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who will take the helm of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the second Trump administration launching in January next year, has begun full-scale activities aimed at "slimming down the federal government." Arriving at the Capitol carrying his son on his shoulders, he reaffirmed his commitment to cutting spending, insisting that all federal-level deductions, including electric vehicle subsidies, must be abolished. Leading Republican figures also expressed their willingness to join the reform wave led by the "First Buddy."
According to Politico and others, on the 5th (local time), Musk met with Vivek Ramaswamy, former Republican presidential primary candidate and co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, at the Capitol. They held a closed-door meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune, who will serve as Senate Majority Leader, to discuss federal spending cuts and deregulation.
After the meeting, Musk, who visited the Capitol with his son on his shoulders, reaffirmed his stance on federal spending cuts during a press encounter. He emphasized, "We need to make sure we spend the people's money wisely." Leading the electric vehicle company Tesla, he also responded to questions about abolishing electric vehicle tax credits by saying, "I think all subsidies should be eliminated."
So far, Musk has maintained a negative stance on the up to $7,500 electric vehicle subsidies provided under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In a conference call following Tesla's Q2 earnings report in July, he stated, "(The elimination of subsidies) would be fatal to competitors and Tesla would be slightly hurt, but it would be beneficial in the long run." Former candidate Ramaswamy also recently criticized various subsidies and loans approved in the final stages of the Biden administration through the IRA and the CHIPS and Science Act (CSA), calling them a potential "fiduciary breach."
Both Musk and Ramaswamy, appointed as co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency, have officially proposed bold measures such as cutting $2 trillion in federal spending and firing 75% of federal employees. Despite the somewhat extreme proposals, it is reported that a significant number of lawmakers in Congress sympathize with them.
AP News reported, "The DOGE caucus has been launched in Congress," consisting of more than 50 Republican members and two Democratic members. Even Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent), a symbol of American progressivism, recently praised Musk as a "smart person" and said he is willing to cooperate with him to eradicate "waste, profiteering, and fraud" in the Department of Defense, drawing attention.
However, resistance is also expected to be formidable. Artificially cutting budgets allocated by Congress or firing civil servants protected by law could be unconstitutional. In the event of litigation, this could be fatal to the Department of Government Efficiency, which lacks solid legal grounds for its establishment and dissolution.
Ro Khanna, a prominent "opponent of defense budget increases" in the U.S. Congress and Democratic Representative from California, recently told Politico in an interview, "I think Elon will get frustrated sooner than expected," predicting that Musk will face strong resistance from Congress during the budget-cutting process. There is concern that if the Department of Government Efficiency remains at the level of an external advisory committee, its binding power over the federal government will weaken, causing the reform momentum to be lost.
House Speaker Johnson, who reportedly invited the two to Congress that day, promised full support for the federal reforms Musk is pushing, stating at a press conference, "Excluding federal guards and maintenance personnel, only about 1% of federal employees actually work in offices." Earlier, Musk and Ramaswamy had previewed the abolition of remote work for federal employees in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
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