Elon Musk Advised by Warren to Slash $2 Trillion in 10 Years – Here’s How!

Amidst significant scrutiny and various lawsuits directed at President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), several progressive entities and politicians are actively participating, including Senator Elizabeth Warren last Thursday.

When President Trump inaugurated DOGE in November, he described it as a presidential advisory board tasked with “eliminating unnecessary regulations, reducing wasteful spending, and reorganizing federal agencies.” On Thursday, Senator Warren of Massachusetts outlined 30 initiatives aimed to slash government spending by at least $2 trillion over the next ten years.

In a detailed letter to DOGE’s chairman, billionaire Elon Musk, first covered by Time, Warren pointed out, “You have openly advocated for significant reductions in funding—from $500 billion in annual spending to ‘at least’ $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending—though you’ve recently indicated that reaching these targets might not be feasible.”

“I hold grave concerns about both the process of DOGE and the policies you have publicly supported so far,” she stated. “Regarding the process, as I mentioned in a previous unanswered letter to then-President-elect Trump about Mr. Musk dated December 16, 2024, it’s unclear whether you and other DOGE leaders can recognize and manage your conflicts of interest and follow basic ethical standards. Consequently, the committee seems to be a breeding ground for corruption, permitting wealthy elites to implement government policies that benefit them at the expense of regular Americans.”

“I am alarmed by the perilous policies you and your colleagues have proposed and publicized so far: cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and other vital programs.”

“Regarding policy, I am alarmed by the harmful policies you and your colleagues have proposed and publicized so far: cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential programs that millions of Americans depend on are not only unrealistic but also cruel. It would be scandalous to reduce these programs under the guise of fiscal prudence while bestowing trillions in tax cuts to billionaires and large corporations,” she continued. “However, you are correct that the federal government spends trillions on inefficient spending. If you are genuinely committed to collaboratively reducing government expenditures in a manner that does not harm the middle class, I have several proposals for you to consider.”

Warren’s letter includes multiple suggestions for reducing expenses at the U.S. Department of Defense, which has never successfully completed an audit. She recommends negotiating better contracts, establishing a renegotiation board to challenge excessive profits, ceasing military engagement in civilian roles, ending corporate subsidies for Pentagon contractors and foreign nations, directing the agency to halt budget manipulation, increasing energy efficiency and market competition, addressing repair limitations on military assets, and preventing unnecessary government expenditure on plutonium production at the Savannah River Site.

Additionally, Warren has ideas for federal healthcare reforms, such as reducing abuse by Medicare Advantage insurers, engaging more extensively in Medicare negotiations to decrease prescription drug prices, supporting crackdowns on pharmacy benefit managers, ending patent exploitation by pharmaceutical companies, exercising march-in rights to lower medication costs, dismantling large healthcare conglomerates, and keeping private equity firms out of the sector.

In terms of education, the senator advocates for cutting or minimizing funding for the federal Charter Schools Program and excluding for-profit colleges from federal grant aid. On tax issues, she suggests fully funding the Internal Revenue Service and recovering tax expenditures and closing loopholes that benefit the affluent.

Her letter also advises maintaining competitiveness in the federal government’s cloud and other IT markets, reducing waste in unnecessary federal arrests and detention initiatives, and collaborating with the Government Accountability Office, inspector general offices, and other regulatory bodies “to detect and tackle fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“DOGE has concentrated on diminishing the size of the federal government to enhance efficiency and save taxpayer money. As the list above shows, there are numerous opportunities to identify savings that would not adversely affect the middle class and would eliminate wasteful spending driven by special interests,” Warren wrote. “However, focusing solely on cutting federal budgets is shortsighted and counterproductive, overlooking significant ways the government can reduce costs for ordinary Americans, saving them billions.”

“For instance, the federal government should persist in its efforts to target exploitative surprise fees levied by businesses across various sectors,” she noted, referring to actions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S. Department of Transportation, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) aimed at eliminating “junk fees.”

Empowering the U.S. Department of Justice and the FTC “to dismantle monopolies and ensure competition would provide incredible benefits for families,” the senator argued. She also maintained that “DOGE should guarantee that federal agency contracts do not foster monopolies that could permanently increase prices for small businesses and consumers.”

“By reforming the tax code, DOGE recommendations could outline ways to generate additional government revenue that could be used for critical investments or to reduce the deficit,” she added, highlighting the potential benefits of ending tax breaks and loopholes for offshoring jobs and profits, increasing the corporate tax rate and the corporate alternative minimum tax rate, and implementing her ‘Ultra-Millionaire Tax.'”

“In pursuit of taking assertive, bipartisan measures to ensure sustainable spending, safeguard taxpayer dollars, curb abusive practices by large corporations, and enhance the quality of life for middle-class Americans,” Warren concluded, “I would be eager to collaborate with you on these issues.”

Warren’s communication followed an MSNBC op-ed by Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in December, which offered Musk some suggestions, and a report earlier this month by the watchdog group Public Citizen. This report outlined “what an efficiency agenda based on evidence, not ideology, would entail,” according to the organization’s co-president, Robert Weissman, who has formally requested to join DOGE as a representative “for consumer and public interests.”

While some of Warren, Khanna, and Public Citizen’s proposals might find bipartisan support, many are expected to face strong opposition from the Trump White House and a Republican-dominated Congress. As Time noted, “Her letter may serve more to make a statement than to initiate an unlikely collaboration.”