Elon Musk on Tuesday made a rare appearance and speech from the Oval office with Donald Trump beside him as he defended his cost-cutting plans across the federal government agencies as a method to limit the spending by various departments. Musk’s speech came as Trump signed an order giving new instructions to federal agencies about how to carry out Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plan. The objective of this plan is to reduce what they see as too much government spending.
While taking questions from the media, Musk defended the work to be carried out by DODGE as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical”. He said it’s the people who want major reforms, that’s what they voted for, and that’s what they are going to get. Musk also insisted that he is trying to keep the entire DODGE operation transparent. However, as of now the DODGE website and X account is missing many details, like which programmes are being cut and which all organisations can DODGE access.
Even though Musk said he would be transparent about the process, the White House on Tuesday fired the inspector general of the US Agency for International Development, according to AP. This happened after the watchdog said that DOGE plan to break down USAID made it nearly impossible to track $8.2 billion in aid money
Musk further admitted that some of the things he’s said about government programs and their spending have been wrong. “We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.
Musk also said that there are good people in the system, but they just need to be held accountable. He called the federal bureaucracy an “unelected” branch with more power than the elected officials. Watch here:
Trump and Musk are also pushing federal workers to quit in exchange for money, but their plan is on hold while a judge reviews if this move is even legal. The programme, also known as a buyout, lets employees quit and continue getting paid until September 30. Reports suggest that over 65,000 workers have already accepted the offer.