AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Official Washington is known for its acronyms, right? And the incoming Trump administration is adding a new one - DOGE, for the Department of Government Efficiency. That is what President-elect Donald Trump is calling his new effort to reduce spending and make the government run better. And the two men tapped to run it are billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who were making the rounds on Capitol Hill today, and NPR political correspondent Susan Davis was there. She joins us now. Hey, Sue.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so what was the reception like for Musk and Ramaswamy in the Capitol today?
DAVIS: You know, when the DOGE effort was first announced, there was certainly some sort of lighthearted ribbing, especially about needing two people to run an efficiency effort.
CHANG: (Laughter).
DAVIS: And DOGE isn't much more than an acronym. It's not a government agency. It has no decision-making power. It doesn't even have any money to pay for staff or even salaries for Musk and Ramaswamy. But what it is, very broadly speaking - it's a pretty popular political idea. Who doesn't want a more efficient government? And...
CHANG: Yeah.
DAVIS: ...These two men are popular within the party - Musk donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Republicans in the election - and they have pretty big platforms to try to popularize the ideas with the public. In that regard, they are finding a pretty enthusiastic response and a lot of encouragement from Republicans in Congress. And frankly, there's been growing interest, even among some House and Senate Democrats, to engage with this effort.
CHANG: OK, but here's the real question. How does something with no authority make an impact, right? Like, because Congress still has to pass laws if they want to cut spending.
DAVIS: Yeah. And I put that question to Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky today. He says he's looking at it as more of an advisory commission, in his words. But he did say his office has turned over 2,000 pages of suggested reforms, so...
CHANG: Oh, wow.
DAVIS: ...He's on board. I mean, supporters are trying to create a framework that could help turn these ideas into legislation. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst and Florida Senator Rick Scott have created the DOGE caucus in the Senate. House Republicans have carved out space within the Oversight Committee, and that's going to be run by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. But you're absolutely right - you cannot reduce spending without the consent of Congress. But what I found interesting this week, talking to senators, is they're really encouraging the Trump administration to focus on what they can do to streamline the executive branch. There is, for instance, a lot of enthusiasm about trimming the size of the federal workforce. Here's South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds.
MIKE ROUNDS: You've got stories of federal employees that haven't been to work in months, and yet they may come into an office once a week for a day or a part of a day. Are they really adding anything to the value in terms of services to the public?
DAVIS: And this idea of reducing the federal workforce - this is something Trump ran on. He's going to have executive authority to make changes to that workforce. And it seems pretty clear from the conversations this week that he's going to have a lot of support to do that in a Republican-controlled Congress next year.
CHANG: Yeah, but Sue, I mean, the effort to cut spending in Washington - this is not, like, some new fight, right?
DAVIS: Oh, no.
CHANG: There have been high-profile efforts in recent years. Like bipartisan commissions were created, and none were successful. So, like, is there any reason to believe this time will be any different?
DAVIS: Well, Musk has said that they want to identify $2 trillion in cuts, which, keep in perspective, is more than Congress spends every year on the entirety of government operations. I cannot overstate how difficult that would be. Republicans are historically very protective of defense spending. Democrats will fight tooth and nail for domestic programs. There doesn't seem to be much appetite right now to look at the really big drivers of mandatory government spending, Medicare and Social Security, which Trump says he intends to protect.
But to their credit, Musk and Ramaswamy seem to get this. They wrote in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that they're going to focus on changes that can be made through executive action versus trying to pass new laws. And, Ailsa, it won't last forever. They say they're going to make all of their recommendations before the DOGE expires in July of 2026.
CHANG: That is NPR political correspondent Susan Davis. Thank you so much, Sue.
DAVIS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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