While the U.S. Senate conducted confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks on Wednesday, the advocacy group Public Citizen issued a warning about a newly proposed commission led by billionaires, which would operate without congressional supervision but could greatly influence federal agencies, regulations, and budgets.
Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not an actual government department. It is a presidential advisory commission that Trump announced following his election victory in November. He has appointed billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the commission.
On Monday, Public Citizen co-presidents Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman reached out to Trump’s transition team, requesting membership in DOGE. They expressed concerns about the commission’s structure and objectives, particularly potential conflicts of interest with Musk and Ramaswamy’s financial interests. They argued that their involvement would represent the interests of consumers and the public, who benefit from federal regulations and spending programs.
“There is nothing ‘efficient’ about aiming for a pre-set spending reduction target, especially one that is unattainable.”
Gilbert and Weissman emphasized that their inclusion would help ensure compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. They also shared their proposals to cut drug prices, terminate privatized Medicare, and reduce the bloated Pentagon budget.
Weissman elaborated on these recommendations in a report published Wednesday titled DOGE Delusions: A Real-World Plan to Counter Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Misguided Agenda, Clamp Down on Corporate Giveaways, Tax the Wealthy, and Invest for the Future.
“Every indication from DOGE suggests that it aims to disguise a government reduction agenda as ‘efficiency,’ favor corporations by slashing regulations, and push a preconceived ideological plan,” Weissman stated on Wednesday. “This report outlines what a genuine efficiency agenda based on evidence, not ideology, would look like—from reducing drug prices to ending privatized Medicare to trimming the wasteful Pentagon budget.”
The introduction of the report points out that Trump and Musk claimed DOGE would trim $2 trillion annually, although “many experts have highlighted the sheer impracticality of cutting $2 trillion each year from the federal budget, considering that all federal discretionary spending—including the Pentagon and veterans’ benefits—amounts to less than $2 trillion.”
Last week, Musk conceded that achieving $2 trillion in cuts is improbable, and experts have deemed even his revised $1 trillion target as “excessive.”
“Few would dispute the stated aim of ‘government efficiency,’ but there is nothing ‘efficient’ about meeting a preset spending cut target, especially an impractical one,”
Weissman wrote. “Nor does it represent ‘efficiency’ to pursue ideologically motivated government reductions or corporate profit-driven deregulation.”
“Moreover, ‘efficiency’ should not be a primary value,” he added. “While the government should aim to operate efficiently (keeping other factors in mind), the more pertinent issue is determining what the government should be doing in the first place.”
The 35-page report includes sections on ending big pharma’s price gouging, dismantling privatized Medicare, cutting Pentagon waste and contractor excess, taxing the rich and corporations, eliminating oil and gas subsidies, regulating efficiency, the costs of deregulation, investing in the care economy, and addressing the climate crisis.
Many of these proposals starkly contrast with the priorities of the incoming Trump administration and the new Republican-controlled Congress, which intend to quickly implement tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, expand Medicare Advantage, and fulfill the oil-backed President-elect’s promise to “drill, baby, drill” for climate-damaging fossil fuels.
Despite the severe and costly impacts of the climate crisis, as evidenced by 27 U.S. disasters in 2024 with damages exceeding $1 billion—including what could be “the costliest wildfire disaster in American history” in Los Angeles, California—the GOP continues to support increased fossil fuel extraction.
The Public Citizen report notes that the financial impacts of failing to address climate change “could reduce the global economy by 11% to 14% of total worldwide economic output by 2050—approximately $23 trillion annually—and about 7% of North American economic output, with these costs worsening over time.”
The watchdog estimates savings from its recommendations, such as ending fossil fuel subsidies ($20 billion annually), eliminating privatized Medicare ($100 billion annually), modest Pentagon cuts ($100 billion annually), and more significant defense reductions ($200 billion annually). The most substantial savings, according to the group’s proposals, would come from equitable tax reforms, totaling $500 billion annually.
“If DOGE truly aims to save taxpayer money and make investments that yield a positive return for both the government and society,” the report concludes, “then it must pursue a clear set of evidence-backed measures.”
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