The internet has been buzzing with news and analysis of President Trump’s proposal to cut 2 trillion dollars from the federal budget. This Townhall article contains the best analysis I have yet found: The DOGE Initiative Is Clearly Needed but It Is Not Enough
President-Elect Trump recently announced his intention to create a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. This will be an external initiative to identify ways to improve the economy, efficiency, and hopefully the effectiveness of the federal government from an organizational and operational perspective. Stated differently, it seems to be an expedited and expanded Grace Commission type effort with a reporting date of July 4, 2026, which is America’s 250th birthday.
This initiative is much needed and long overdue. In fact, I called for a Government Transformation Initiative over twelve years ago. An initiative designed to streamline and simplify the organization of the federal government, attack fraud and waste, devolve certain functions and activities to the states, leverage technology, and implement modern planning and management practices, including human capital practices.
The DOGE can help to shed light, create heat, and make recommendations to improve federal government operations. Its recommendations will need to be sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and designation regarding, which can be done through an Executive Order, which would require legislation, and which would require a Constitutional Amendment.
The last paragraph of the quote highlights the main limitations of the DOGE. It lacks teeth, requiring many improbable actions before significant cuts can be made.
Restoring fiscal sanity and sustainability will also require a comprehensive review and reassessment of current mandatory and discretionary spending programs as well as tax policy. Attempting to perform this type of review and reassessment cannot be done on a piecemeal basis through the regular order. Congress cannot even pass the annual appropriations bills on time!
While we need to adopt more pro-growth-oriented policies which can help to ease our burdens, our fiscal gap is too great, and our financial hole is too deep to simply grow our way out of this challenge. Tough fiscal choices are needed sooner versus later.
Republicans in both Houses of Congress need to put on their big boy pants start doing what should have been done many decades. They need to eliminate each and every federal bureau, agency, and department that is not directly by the Constitution. The entire administrative state must be eliminated. This will require legislation which RINOS will balk at.
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