Musk Releases Government Reform Plan Musk Ramachandran November 20, 2024 (Wall Street Journal)
Our nation is built on a fundamental idea: that the people we elect manage the government. However, today's operation of America is no longer the case. Most directives are not laws passed by Congress but 'rules and regulations' issued by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of regulations issued each year. Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures are not made by the elected president or his appointed political officials, but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies, who believe they can avoid layoffs due to civil service protections.
This understanding is anti-democratic and contrary to the vision of the founders. It imposes significant direct and indirect costs on taxpayers. Fortunately, we have a historic opportunity to address this issue. On November 5, voters overwhelmingly elected Trump and entrusted him with a mandate for comprehensive reform, and they should enjoy this outcome.
President Trump has invited the two of us to lead a newly formed 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE) to streamline the size of the federal government. The sprawling and ever-expanding bureaucracy poses a threat to the survival of our republic, and politicians have indulged this for too long. That is why we must act differently.
We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as external volunteers—rather than federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory bodies, we will not merely write reports or cut ribbons; we will genuinely cut costs.
We are assisting Trump’s transition team in identifying and recruiting a capable team made up of small-government crusaders, including some of America's top technical and legal talent. This team will work closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget in the new government. The two of us will provide consulting for the Department of Government Efficiency at every step to drive three categories of reform:
Abolishing excessive regulation, reducing administrative expenditures, saving costs
We will focus on driving reform through administrative measures based on existing legislation, rather than through the creation of new laws. The guiding principle of our reform is the American Constitution, with particular attention to two key rulings made by the Supreme Court during President Biden's term.
In the case of West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022), the Supreme Court ruled that government agencies cannot enact regulations involving significant economic or policy issues unless expressly authorized by Congress. In the case of Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), the Supreme Court overturned the 'Chevron deference' and ruled that federal courts would no longer afford leniency to federal agencies in interpreting laws or their own rules. Taken together, these cases indicate that the current large volume of federal regulations exceeds the authority granted to Congress by law.
DOGE will collaborate with legal experts from government agencies to review federal regulations enacted by government agencies based on these rulings, using advanced technology. DOGE will submit this list of regulations to President Trump, who can immediately suspend their enforcement through executive orders and initiate review and repeal processes. This will liberate individuals and businesses from illegal regulations that were not passed by Congress, thereby stimulating the U.S. economy.
When the president abolishes thousands of such regulations, critics may accuse him of abusing executive power. In fact, this is precisely a correction of the abuse of executive power—that is, issuing thousands of administrative regulations without congressional authorization. The president respects Congress's legislative authority, rather than the bureaucrats hidden within federal agencies. Using executive orders to add complex new rules, instead of legislation, is unconstitutional. However, to comply with the Supreme Court's recent ruling, it is legal and necessary to use executive orders to rescind those regulations that were wrongly enacted bypassing Congress. Moreover, after these regulations are completely abolished, future presidents cannot simply press a switch to reactivate them; they must request Congress to re-pass them.
Significantly reducing federal regulations provides a rational basis for large-scale layoffs within the federal bureaucracy. The DOGE plan collaborates with appointees in various agencies to identify the minimum number of employees each agency needs to fulfill its constitutionally permitted and statutorily authorized functions. The number of federal employee reductions should be at least proportional to the number of regulations abolished: the fewer the regulations, the fewer employees responsible for enforcing them, and once the authority of an administrative agency is properly limited, the fewer regulations that agency will create. Laid-off employees deserve respect, and DOGE aims to provide corresponding support to help them transition to the private sector. The president can utilize existing laws to offer them early retirement incentives and voluntary separation compensation to help them leave gracefully. The traditional view holds that statutory civil service protections prevent the president and even politically appointed personnel from firing federal employees. These protections are intended to shield employees from political retaliation. However, the bill allows for layoffs that do not target specific employees. The bill also grants the president the power to 'establish competitive service management rules,' a power that is extensive. Previous presidents have modified civil service rules through executive orders, and the Supreme Court ruled in cases such as Franklin v. Massachusetts (1992) and Collins v. Yellen (2021) that they are not restricted by the Administrative Procedure Act when making such modifications. With this power, Trump can implement any number of 'competitive service management rules' to curb the expansion of administrative agencies, from large-scale layoffs to relocating federal agencies out of the Washington area. Requiring federal employees to work in the office five days a week would lead to a wave of voluntary resignations, which we welcome: if federal employees are unwilling to report to work, attempting to enjoy the privilege of working from home during the pandemic, American taxpayers refuse to pay their salaries.
Ultimately, our focus is on saving costs for taxpayers. Some skeptics question how much federal spending DOGE can cut solely through executive orders. They cite the 1974 Budget Control Act, which prohibits the president from halting expenditures authorized by Congress. Trump argued that this act is unconstitutional, and we believe the current Supreme Court may support his view. However, even without relying on this, DOGE will help end the federal government's excessive spending by targeting over $500 billion in federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or not used in the manner anticipated by Congress each year. These expenditures include $535 million annually for public broadcasting, $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations, and nearly $300 million for funding progressive groups like Planned Parenthood. The federal government's procurement process also has serious issues. Many federal contracts have gone years without review. Conducting large-scale audits during temporary payment halts would yield significant savings. Recently, the Pentagon failed its financial audit for the seventh consecutive time, indicating that the agency's leadership is almost unaware of how its annual budget of over $800 billion is being spent. Critics claim that we cannot effectively reduce the federal deficit without cutting welfare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which require reductions by Congress. However, this argument diverts attention from the issues of waste, fraud, and abuse that nearly all taxpayers want to end, and DOGE aims to directly save costs for taxpayers by identifying precise administrative actions.
With decisive electoral authorization and a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity to achieve structural streamlining of the federal government. We are prepared for a fierce backlash from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to succeed. It is time to take decisive action.
DOGE's primary goal is to eliminate the necessity of its existence by July 4, 2026 (the deadline we set for the project). On the 250th anniversary of America's founding, there could be no better birthday gift than delivering a federal government that makes our founders proud.
Source: Internet