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Musk is Head of Gov Efficienc 11/13 06:51

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk 
and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy 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.

   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."

   Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind 
Trump.

   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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