Trump Picks Musk, Ramaswamy for Government Efficiency Effort

President-elect Donald Trump picked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, to lead an effort to cut spending, eliminate regulations and restructure federal agencies. Musk and Ramaswamy will lead what the president-elect called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE . The group’s mandate is to streamline government bureaucracy, the president-elect said. DOGE (which Musk pronounces as ˈdōj  but Trump pronounces as ˈdȯ-gē ) will operate outside of the federal government, Trump said, and will work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to implement its recommendations. Musk isn’t expected to become an official government employee, meaning he likely wouldn’t be required to divest from his business empire. Trump gave Musk and Ramaswamy a deadline of July 4, 2026—amid the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations, and just months before the midterm elections—to complete their work.