Musk and Ramaswamy lay out plans for “mass” federal layoffs and rollback of rules under Trump

Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday that their brand new government efficiency panel will identify “thousands” of regulations that President-elect Trump must eliminate, which they say will justify “massive staff reductions” across the government.

The pair, who were named co-chairs of the panel last week, laid out their plans for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal.

“The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three broad types of reforms: regulatory repeals, administrative reductions, and cost savings,” they wrote. “We will particularly focus on driving change through executive action based on existing laws, rather than through the enactment of new laws.”

Musk and Ramaswamy pointed to several recent Supreme Court decisions targeting the power of the administrative state, arguing that “a plethora of current federal regulations” go beyond agency authority and could be at stake.

They argue that drastic regulations should allow for “at least” proportional reductions in the government workforce.

“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides a sound industrial rationale for massive staff cuts across the federal bureaucracy,” the two wrote in the editorial.

“Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would also issue fewer regulations if its powers were appropriately limited,” they added.

Musk and Ramaswamy preemptively addressed arguments about civil service protections that could potentially prevent Trump from firing federal workers.

“The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation,” they wrote. “But the law allows for ‘force reductions’ that do not target specific employees. The law also authorizes the president to “prescribe rules for competitive service.” This power is far-reaching.”

“With this authority, Mr. Trump can implement any number of ‘rules governing competitive service’ that would curb administration overgrowth, from large-scale layoffs to relocating federal agencies out of the Washington area,” they added.

According to Reuters, government officials are already mobilizing in the face of possible mass cuts, reportedly hiring lawyers and preparing public campaigns while hoping that Congress will intervene.

DOGE also hopes to target “unapproved” federal funding that could impact everything from veterans’ health care to opioid addiction treatment to NASA, The Washington Post reported.

The commentary appears to attempt to dispel widespread skepticism about the ability of Musk and Ramaswamy’s panel to effect change.

Because it is a commission outside the government, it would be limited to an advisory role, meaning it could face numerous obstacles from both the executive branch and Congress, experts previously told The Hill.

However, Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect could be influential. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO played a key role in Trump’s campaign, contributing millions of dollars to his own pro-Trump super PAC and participating in the campaign test.

Since Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Harris earlier this month, Musk has remained close; The billionaire tech mogul accompanied the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on election night to watch the results being announced and later received a shout-out in Trump’s victory speech.

Musk has spent much of the past two weeks at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he reportedly helped shape Trump’s Cabinet decisions and attended meetings, including with world leaders.

He also hosted Trump in Texas to watch the launch of a SpaceX rocket on Tuesday afternoon.

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