Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy met with GOP lawmakers on Dec 5th to discuss their new role in the incoming administration (where they will lead a government cost-cutting task force)
The tech-savvy duo aims to find $2-trillion in budget cuts: a huge task given the governments $6.8-trillion yearly spending. Their cost-saving ideas include:
- Removing many federal workers
- Cutting down on rules
- Stopping expired programs like some veterans services
“I think we just need to make sure we spend the publics money well“ [[Elon Musk stated while walking through Capitol]]
Senator John Thune‚ next years Republican majority leader thinks its time for change: “We want to help him in any way that we can; heʼs got obviously a big mission“
The task-force faces real-world limits — most federal money goes to health and pension programs that are hard-to-change. Interest payments alone will need $1-trillion this fiscal year; thats a fixed cost they cant touch
During his first term (2017-21) Donald Trump didnt cut spending; it went up from $4-trillion to $6.2-trillion. Now he says he wont touch Social Security or Medicare which make up 1/3rd of all spending
Thom Tillis and other Senate Republicans talked with Ramaswamy about quick fixes: “Is this an administrative action that doesnt require congressional approval; rock on. Do it now or do it after Jan 20th“