I am less bullish on DOGE’s potential to cut federal spending, or even waste in federal spending, than a lot of conservatives — as I write in the Washington Post today. In part that’s because its power is a lot more limited than some of the rhetoric from its friends and foes suggests. President Trump recently said that Musk “gets it done,” but a lot of what DOGE is suggesting can’t take effect unless Congress puts it into legislation.
Musk has sometimes obscured the point, too. He recently retweeted a Fox News clip of President Obama speaking in 2011 about his efforts to fight waste. The original post said, “Obama himself stated he didn’t need Congress to cut wasteful government spending. So don’t waste my time with your pathetic lies; here’s the clip for all to see. Now watch as your foolish argument withers and dies in the face of cold, undeniable truth.” Musk added two fire emojis.
In the video clip, Obama says, “One of the commitments that I made to the American people was that we would do a better job here in Washington in rooting out wasteful spending. . . . We don’t need to wait for Congress in order to do something about wasteful spending that’s out there. Cutting waste, making Government more efficient, is something that leaders in both parties have worked on. . . . We haven’t seen as much action out of Congress as we’d like, and that’s why we launched on our own initiative . . .”
Obama’s full remarks are available online. Here’s part of what was cut at the first set of ellipses: “A lot of the action is in Congress and legislative and budget. I know the joint committee on trying to reduce our deficits are engaged in a very difficult conversation right now, and we want to encourage them to complete their work.” Among the ideas he then mentioned as part of his executive-branch initiative: unloading empty federal buildings, saving on agencies’ cellphone bills, and keeping an inventory of NASA’s tools.
So yes, the executive branch can and should implement some efficiencies on its own to save money. But much of the action has to be in Congress.