As co-head of Department of Government EfficiencyVivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk would make work from the office five days a week mandatory for federal workers and result in a wave of voluntary layoffs, they wrote in a joint piece for the Wall Street Journal. “Requiring federal employees to come into the office five days a week will result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,” the two wrote. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for their Covid-era privilege to stay home.”
‘We are entrepreneurs, not politicians’
Vivek and Alon wrote that they are entrepreneurs and not politicians and hence they will not act as government officials and cut the ribbon. “We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we will not simply write reports or cut ribbons. We will cut costs,” they wrote.
“If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for their Covid-era privilege to stay home,” they wrote.
Elon Musk has promised to cut $2 trillion from the annual United States budget and says the government needs only 99 agencies, not more than 400.
“Employees whose positions are eliminated will be treated with respect,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote, adding that the efficiency department “will help support their transition to the private sector.”
“The president could use existing laws to provide him with incentives for early retirement and voluntary severance payments to facilitate an attractive exit,” they wrote.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green will chair a newly created US House subcommittee dedicated to improving government efficiency. “I will not rest until we root out every penny of waste and abuse,” Marjorie Green posted.
DOGE has a mandate to complete their work by July 4, 2026.
Top 5 things DOGE will do
- DOGE is assembling a lean team of small-government crusaders working for three types of reform: regulatory rescission, administrative reduction and cost savings.
- They will act based on existing laws rather than passing new laws.
- They would make Trump a list of regulations he believed to be unnecessary, and Trump would use his executive power to pause them.
- They will make office work mandatory for government employees five days a week which will get rid of many employees.
- They will shift some departments out of Washington.