Musk and Ramaswamy float ending remote work for federal employees and ‘large-scale firings’
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Musk, Ramaswamy Unveil Plans for Federal Workforce Layoffs
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Above: An American flag displayed on a laptop screen with Elon Musk's post about DOGE on X is displayed on a phone screen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on Nov. 13, 2024. Image copyright: Jakub Porzycki/Contributor/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Facts
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — set to head Pres.-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — Wednesday revealed plans to "cut the federal government down to size," while cutting civil-service protections.
They laid out their plan — cutting federal spending by $500B — in an article in The Wall Street Journal, claiming that the US wasn't functioning today according to its founding "basic idea that the people we elect run the government."
The Spin
Republican narrative
Musk and Ramaswamy's leadership in the DOGE signals a transformative vision to rejuvenate America through targeted deregulation. Musk's critique of overregulation as "strangulation" resonates amid glaring inefficiencies delaying broadband expansion, medical innovation, and critical infrastructure. By trimming bureaucratic excess and fostering clarity in emerging sectors like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, DOGE could unlock unprecedented economic and technological growth.
Democratic narrative
Musk and Ramaswamy's DOGE initiative is a quixotic venture and is a major threat to sound governance. Musk envisions slashing $2T in "waste" despite the fiscal and legal realities that make such cuts impractical, if not unconstitutional. Ramaswamy's bluster about dismantling agencies lacks grounding in federal processes or political feasibility. DOGE wields no genuine power without congressional authority — and the true impact remains to be seen.
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