WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Cincinnati-native and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency.
The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added that the move would shock government systems.
It's not clear how the organization will operate. It could come under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which dictates how external groups that advise the government must operate and be accountable to the public.
Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.
Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump. He was under consideration to replace JD Vance, but said after Trump's announcement Tuesday night that he is withdrawing.
"Whoever Governor DeWine appoints to JD’s seat has some big shoes to fill. I will help them however I can," Ramaswamy said.
He was born and raised in Cincinnati; specifically, Evendale. His dad worked at GE and his mother is a psychiatrist. Both emigrated from India.
Ramaswamy went to Princeton schools before going to St. Xavier High School, where he was Valedictorian of his graduating class. As a Hindu kid in a Catholic school, Ramaswamy said he took a lot away from the differences in his upbringing.
After graduating from St. Xavier High School, Ramaswamy went on to get degrees from Harvard and Yale. He worked as a venture capitalist in the biotech space, was CEO of Riovant Sciences and is currently the co-founder of Strive Asset Management.
His fortune has been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars and, while he got some grassroots support, he primarily bankroled his presidential campaign himself.
Musk posted on X: “Department of Government Efficiency. The merch will be (fire emojis).” Later he added: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”
Musk has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election.
The president-elect has often said he would give Musk a formal role overseeing a group akin to a blue-ribbon commission that would recommend ways to slash spending and make the federal government more efficient. Musk at one point suggested he could find more than $2 trillion in savings — nearly a third of total annual government spending.
Trump had made clear that Musk would likely not hold any kind of full-time position, given his other commitments.
“I don’t think I can get him full-time because he’s a little bit busy sending rockets up and all the things he does,” Trump said at a rally in Michigan in September. “He said the waste in this country is crazy. And we’re going to get Elon Musk to be our cost cutter.”
Trump said in his statement the two will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
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Colvin reported from New York.
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