Policy Backgrounders

Can DOGE Deliver $2 Trillion in Efficiency Gains?

December 12, 2024

Key Insights

Early in the transition, President-Elect Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), designed to recommend sharp budget cuts (potentially up to $2 trillion USD) and elimination of many Federal regulations. But the actual organization of the DOGE remains unclear, and Congress will have to decide on many of its recommendations.

• Cuts at this level would almost certainly require cuts to entitlement programs, which the President-Elect had said in the campaign he would not cut.
• Because Congress holds the power of the purse, the quickest successes for DOGE will likely come in the area of eliminating Federal regulation rather than spending proposals.
• CED shares with DOGE a desire to reduce wasteful spending and eliminate unnecessary regulations, which will help drive economic growth.