AP Photo/Alex Brandon
- Donald Trump has officially ushered Elon Musk into his future administration.
- The president-elect said Tuesday that Musk would help lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
- Trump has tasked Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy with curbing federal spending.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are set to lead a Department of Government Efficiency under President-elect Donald Trump.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the 'Save America' Movement," Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.
As a new department, the Department of Government Efficiency's role remains unclear. In the statement announcing Musk and Ramaswamy's appointment, Trump said the endeavor could become "'The Manhattan Project' of our time."
Trump also said the office "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."
On the campaign trail, Musk, who poured millions of dollars into electing Trump, regularly teased a role in a potential second Trump administration and spoke frequently about his desire to curb federal government spending.
The federal government's spending in the 2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion.
"Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending," Trump said in Tuesday's statement. "Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 - A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence."
Nine-tenths of the government's spending each year goes to federal programs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Nearly a quarter of the budget — 24%, or $1.6 trillion — goes to health insurance programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace health insurance subsidies.
An additional 21%, or $1.4 trillion, of the budget goes to Social Security, which provides benefits to retired workers.
Another 13%, or $820 billion, of the budget is spent on defense initiatives, operations and maintenance, military personnel, and weapons procurement.
In a post on X made shortly after the announcement was made, Musk said all actions made by the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online "for maximum transparency."
"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" Musk wrote. "We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining."
Political scientists previously told Business Insider that Musk's ideas for government efficiency and budget cuts misunderstand a fundamental element of US federalism — namely, that profit is not the end-all, be-all — because the government's job isn't to make money, as a business does, but to regulate and keep people safe.