Musk’s Worthy DOGE Spotlight and the Fiscal Path Forward

        On Wednesday evening, the world’s wealthiest man announced that his sojourn in the nation’s capital is almost over. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President (Donald Trump) for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Elon Musk posted to X, the social media platform he owns.

        While Musk was quick to add that “the (Department of Government Efficiency) mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk’s departure will represent the effective end of DOGE as we know it. As The Wall Street Journal reported, “much of DOGE’s work will shift to the White House Office of Management and Budget,” which is headed by Russell Vought.

        The DOGE team claims it identified about $175 billion in total savings. Given the federal government spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal 2024 alone, that may seem like a mere drop in the bucket. And given that Musk himself once vowed to identify taxpayer savings in the trillions of dollars — albeit without much of a timeline attached to that pronouncement — it certainly is a bit disappointing.

        But consider some of the specific outrageous spending outlays identified by Musk’s team as ripe for the cutting board: eye-opening domestic savings such as $382 million from alleged fraudulent unemployment benefits at the Department of Labor and astonishing extravagance on the foreign stage — for instance, $2 million for sex-change operations in Guatemala and $20 million for a “Sesame Street”-inspired early childhood initiative in Iraq.

        Such ideologically driven spending is emblematic of what Vought, in a Newsweek op-ed written two years ago during the Biden-era presidential interregnum, described as “the scourge of a woke and weaponized bureaucracy.” The brief DOGE experiment, which uncovered tens of thousands of combined government contract and grant terminations that would shock the conscience of most Americans with any inclination toward sound fiscal stewardship, is proof that such a “woke and weaponized bureaucracy” isn’t merely speculative — it really exists.

        There is probably a lot more, furthermore, where that $175 billion in flagged waste came from. And Vought, who has worked with Musk since last year, is the right man to continue the mission once Musk fully returns to the private sector.

        There are now at least two additional steps that must be taken — one pressing short-term item and one more difficult longer-term item.

        The so-called big, beautiful bill that passed the House of Representatives last week, and which is now pending before the Senate, did not incorporate the DOGE cuts. It seems there is a procedural reason for this: The DOGE cuts are technically post hoc rescissions of presently appropriated money, and rescissions of current outlays are typically subject to their own process. An obscure figure known as the Senate parliamentarian controls the process by which the annual reconciliation budget bill — a favored tool because it permits a Senate majority to bypass the chamber’s legislative filibuster — can pass muster. And Capitol Hill Republicans apparently fear that including the DOGE rescissions would endanger Trump’s desired bill.

        But without Congress actually enacting the DOGE cuts into law, history will show this entire exercise to have been largely futile. Accordingly, Vought and the White House’s OMB must, following the reconciliation bill’s passage and enactment into law, transmit a fresh rescission package to Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) desk. That should happen quickly after the reconciliation bill becomes the law of the land. It is extraordinarily important that the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress demonstrate not merely that they can identify excessive spending but also that they are willing and able to cut it.

        The longer-term problem is thornier.

        While DOGE has served as a useful function, and while Vought’s OMB can probably identify a good amount more in the way of “woke and weaponized bureaucracy” cost-cutting measures, it is a matter of basic mathematics that something more will be needed to begin to rein in America’s soaring annual deficits and our shocking national debt.

        The Republican Party of Donald Trump has moved in a strongly populist direction on issues of political economy. On many fronts, such as antitrust and industrial policy efforts to reshore vital supply chains, such a shift is very much welcome.

        But at some point, both Republicans and Democrats alike are going to have to find some way to come together and put our 1960s-era entitlement programs — above all, Medicare and Social Security — on a long-term path to sustainability. The political optics of being perceived as “cutting” either of these programs are simply horrible, so any attempt at reform will not be easy. But it must be done anyway, as the recent Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating makes starkly clear. The longer we wait, the more credit downgrades and interest payment spikes we risk.

        Basic game theory suggests that neither party will want to blink first. Recall the 2012-era political ads accusing then-GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of throwing grandmothers off cliffs. The politics are nasty, divisive and radioactive. But this must get done. So we’ll have to find some way to force everyone to do it together. And in the meantime, as a down payment, let’s just make sure DOGE’s crucial work was not done in vain.

        To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.