Washington:
Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet are likely to move to limit the impact of government’s efficiency department employees and reassert control of budget and staffing, said two government sources would know firsthand the issue after Elon Musk returned from Doge.
The government’s efficiency office, created by an executive order on the day Trump took office and became billionaire Musk, led efforts to reduce the federal workforce and cut deficits through mass shootings, cancellation of contracts and reducing federal service to Americans.
But Musk confirmed on Tuesday that he plans to reduce government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his abused car company Tesla, raising doubts about the future of the agency’s work. As a special civil servant, his mission appeared to expire at the end of May.
The billionaire provided political cover to the White House, but Doge pursued a cost-cutting drive that became deeply unpopular among career staff. Cabinet secretaries view Doge employees as infiltrating traditional authority to hire and fire, and some are reluctant to bid.
Tensions have been growing within the Trump administration over the powers granted to masks in recent weeks. At a cabinet meeting in March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Musk and accused USAID and Transport Secretary Shawn Duffy of facing masks for the proposed layoffs that proposed layoffs for air traffic controllers amid aviation safety concerns, a source familiar with the situation said.
Cabinet secretaries have consistently pushed for stronger control over budget decisions, and their efforts to implement targeted spending cuts as counterbalances are likely to advance with fewer obstacles, according to sources, speaking on the terms of anonymity, they will discuss the unapproved condition.
The most important shift is the increase in authority of the cabinet itself. Agency heads have the final say on which proposals will move forward, reinforcing their role at the heart of federal efficiency and spending strategies.
The Cabinet will have more autonomy and no longer need mask sign-offs for all decisions, one of the sources said.
The dynamics of shift leadership within Doge also lead to a reassessment of the roles and responsibilities of the young engineers who were first hired by Musk.
The impact of engineers could be reduced, sources added that they will be exposed to increased scrutiny. Sources said the qualifications and authority of young engineers with little government experience will be raised questionable.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields pushes back the idea that Musk will retreat from his role, showing a change in Doge’s direction or impact.
“The way Doge was designed is that cabinets already have more autonomy than spending cuts. Doge has just become an agent component,” Fields says. “There’s no change. The Doge runs effortlessly. It’s mostly in cruise control and running the presidential agenda is working well within the federal government,” Fields said.
Many Doge-Watchers, from academics to pros and cons of his agency work, have confirmed that budget cut efforts continue despite the move to part-time work for masks, citing executive orders moving on the wheels and Trump ministers on board his agenda.
“A lot of what Doge did is internalized by many of these agencies and it will continue to move forward,” said Nick Bednar, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, who tracks government layoffs and believes it’s unlikely to overturn the cuts that Doge has made.
“There are trains leaving the station. It’s difficult to stop,” Bednar said.
“Almost done”
Musk, Trump’s top backer in the 2024 election and Tesla CEO, SpaceX and X’s executive chairman, is the ideological driver behind the government’s overhaul. He set up top lieutenants at major government agencies and sent former staff from X and SpaceX to federal agencies to oversee deep staff cuts.
He had fingerprints on many White House initiatives, from federal employment freezes to several government-wide acquisition offers. His request to explain what federal workers accomplished in their time-consuming weekly emails was initially enforced by most Cabinet Secretaries, but now it has largely stopped.
“Most of the massive work required to work in government to get the Doge teams in place and organize them in order is done,” Musk said Tuesday.
As Musk turns to his business, Doge needs to find another leader. One possibility is Amy Gleason, who was appointed proxy administrator in February by the White House. She said in a court filing on March 19 that Musk does not work for Doge. Trump himself contradicts many times that Musk is in charge.
But what his role is on a daily basis is never clear, and it becomes even more important to make it clear to his departure.
Tom Schatz, a supporter of Doge’s mission and president of the government’s Watchdog Group Citizens on Waste, said his exit could make Doge more effective.
Musk is a “lightning bolt,” he said, “takes attention to whatever he does.” Musk plays a small role, “It’s probably more effective because… he has less attention.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)
