Billionaire Elon Musk is set to leave his role in the Donald Trump administration in the US at the end of May. He is leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and working towards a massive reduction of $1 trillion in the US deficit. Musk was brought into the Trump administration as a "special government employee" for a 130-day tenure. He is leading efforts to cut government costs.
In an interview with Fox News, Musk described his tenure as a historic change in federal spending. He said, "This is a revolution. And I think it may be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution. In the end, America is going to be in a much better place. There's going to be a great future."
Musk has received both praise and criticism for his aggressive approach to cutting government spending. DOGE, an agency run by engineers and entrepreneurs, has laid off thousands of government employees in the US and cut funding for many programs.
Helped Americans save $130 billion
When asked in the interview whether he would stay beyond his 130-day term, Musk said that he believes that his work will be largely completed by then. He said, "I think we will complete most of the work necessary to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that timeframe." DOGE claims on its website that as of March 27, it has saved Americans $130 billion, or about $807 per taxpayer.
Ban on wastage of money and fraud
Musk's team of 7 members of DOGE includes – Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghadasi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause and Tyler Hassan. Musk has said, "We want to reduce expenses by 15 percent by eliminating waste and fraud, which actually seems to be a fairly achievable goal. Government is not efficient, and there is a lot of waste and fraud. So we believe that 15 percent reduction can be done without affecting any vital government services."
