Ever since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has been involved in the U.S. government, both as a “right-hand man” figure for Trump, as well as in his own government branch, DOGE. Here are the facts for those who may be confused.
DOGE: What is it, why was it created, and who runs it?
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order to create DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency. While he did not create a new Cabinet-level department, he chose to take a previously existing one, the United States Digital Service, and rework it to focus on overall government efficiency.
According to Joe Hernandez at NPR, “[The United States Digital Service] launched in 2014 to improve the federal government's digital capabilities following the rocky rollout of the HealthCare.gov website.”
Once Trump renamed it to DOGE, he elected billionaire Elon Musk to run the new department. Under Musk, DOGE is said to work on improving government efficiency by analyzing the U.S. government’s spending and identifying root causes of issues, as well as changes that need to happen to prevent further economic losses.
The Subcommittee on DOGE recently held its first hearing, which announced its “War on Waste.” The entire hearing has been explained in-detail by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; their website can be found here.
The War on Waste will “investigate the hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars wasted annually on improper payments and fraud.” Also, “Expert witnesses shared step-by-step plans to improve payment systems, close loopholes, decrease fraud, and save American taxpayers billions of dollars every year,” the report states.
While the Subcommittee’s first hearing happened without much issue, DOGE as an organization has caused concern for many government officials, as well as U.S. citizens.
“DOGE was the subject of a lawsuit filed on the day it was created by a group of organizations questioning the legality of the new entity… The plaintiffs argue that DOGE is a kind of advisory committee that should be subject to certain federal rules, including transparency requirements,” Hernandez stated.
Despite the expectation for a federal organization to follow federal guidelines, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told the press that Musk is a “special government employee,” meaning that he is a temporary assistant that works for 130 days per year, and as a result, he is subject to different ethics and disclosure rules than regular federal employees.
Special government employee
As a special government employee, Musk is not paid for his work, meaning he does not have to file a public financial disclosure report, according to CBS News author Aimee Picchi.
On top of this, he works as an outside source of expertise for the Trump administration, and can often be found at Trump’s side.
He helps Trump with the press and through DOGE to help push the Trump administration’s agenda and goals for the next four years, including cutting programs the richest man in the world does not see use for– such as DEI, or Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, and various foreign aid.
While his policies have caused various backlash already, the biggest controversy happened recently, when DOGE briefly gained control of the Treasury Department’s payment system.
Controversy: Involvement with the Treasury
In an article by Kate Gibson at CBS News, “Musk's access to the payment system is raising concerns as it comes just days after the White House ordered a broad freeze on federal grants and loans... That same day, state Medicaid programs said they were locked out of the Department of Health and Human Services system used to track and disburse money.”
Luckily, the memo was later rescinded by the White House, and a judge halted the freeze of federal grants and loans. On top of this, Jonathan Blum, a legislative affairs official at the Treasury, claims that DOGE can only read “coded data,” and cannot directly affect the federal payment system of any currently scheduled systems in general.
There has been plenty of concern from government officials and citizens alike despite the claims that Musk cannot do as much as the people fear.
The backlash against Musk’s power has continued to rise over the past few days, and ever since he was assigned to run DOGE.
