President-elect Trump has announced that billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead an agency aimed at reducing wasteful spending.
“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut unnecessary regulations, reduce wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies. These are essential to the ‘Save America’ movement,” President-elect Donald Trump stated on November 12.
The statement quoted Musk saying that the agency would “shake up the entire system and everyone involved in government waste—that is, a lot of people!”
Trump clarified that this agency is not part of the government but will advise those in the White House on federal agency reform. As such, Musk and Ramaswamy can continue working in the private sector while fulfilling their roles in this agency without requiring Senate confirmation. Trump has set a deadline of July 4, 2026, for the agency to complete its work.
Following an assassination attempt on Trump in July, the world’s richest man, Musk, declared his support for Trump’s campaign and has contributed $118 million to a super PAC backing the Republican candidate. In his victory speech on November 6, Trump praised Musk as a “super genius” and “a new star.”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 39, founder of a pharmaceutical company and the son of Indian immigrants, announced his presidential candidacy in February 2023 but received limited support. In January 2024, Ramaswamy ended his campaign and shifted his support to Trump.
During his campaign, Ramaswamy supported a state-level six-week abortion ban, advocated for increasing presidential power, and proposed dissolving most federal government agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Education. He also took a strong stance on foreign policy, opposing NATO membership for Ukraine and suggesting that Kyiv should make concessions to end the conflict with Moscow.
