Give Trump, Musk kudos for aiming to trim federal fat
Call me a miserly penny-pincher if you want, but I am heartened by the Trump administration’s recent pivot toward cutting wasteful spending. The federal government has run trillion dollar deficits for years, hasn’t balanced a budget in over two decades and our national debt now sits at over $36 trillion. Untangling the feds’ love affair with frivolous spending has become the modern era’s proverbial Gordian Knot, but perhaps there is room for some cautious optimism.
Standing in the Oval Office alongside President Donald J. Trump, billionaire Elon Musk explained, “The interest payments alone on the national debt exceed the defense department budget […] If that keeps going, we’re essentially going to bankrupt the country.” He concluded, “It’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses, it’s essential.”
Headed by Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been feverishly identifying so-called government waste—and has done so with the same care you’d expect from a bull in a china shop. While I don’t necessarily agree with all of their recommendations, the notion of cutting federal spending is a volte-face in D.C. that should generate some excitement, although DOGE has been mired in partisan rancor.
“DOGE is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day,” DOGE’s X account bragged. These stem from cutting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) contracts, reducing headcount and terminating unnecessary lease space, which has caused an uproar. Many—particularly on the Left—support DEI work and oppose where Musk has decided to suggest making cuts, and they are making their displeasure known. “Nobody voted for Elon Musk,” has been one of the refrains, as if he is wielding power only appropriate for a president, but this criticism badly misses the mark.
The majority of voters supported Trump who appointed Musk to a kind of kitchen cabinet-type post, and Trump even stated, “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval.” No election for Musk is necessary, but what about the many faceless, unelected bureaucrats who slowly grew government and spent taxpayer money frivolously? The same critics demanding Musk be elected to run DOGE give them a free pass.
This aside, Musk and company are far from reaching their goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget, which essentially represents the current deficit, but he has trained his gaze on larger agencies with more fat to trim. Yet he will face a tough time getting remotely close to $2 trillion. Meanwhile, Trump has also eyed options for pruning government, including eliminating entire agencies like the Department of Education and even the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Trump has gotten creative in some of his other cost-savings ideas. “Trump said he had ordered the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, to stop producing new pennies, a move that he said would help reduce unnecessary government spending,” reported The New York Times. Pennies cost about 3.69 cents to create and distribute—meaning the government loses millions of dollars minting them. Feds spent $85.3 million making pennies last year alone. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great [nation’s] budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump said in an online post.
I have no doubt that some coin enthusiasts are clutching their pearls, but I am more interested in the folks who have been the least active during Trump and Musk’s attempts to shrink government: Congress. Republican lawmakers claim to support Trump’s efforts to curb government spending, while Democrats oppose them and recently held a demonstration to express their disapproval.
However, in large part, Congress’ members have seemingly been standing helpless on the sidelines hoping that they don’t have to make any difficult or unpopular choices. Without Congress—as I’ve opined before—the cost-cutting exercise is unfortunately doomed to fall short.
The president—and by extension, his advisors like Musk—can only do so much. They cannot abolish entire agencies unilaterally, do not have the power of the purse and there are legal challenges aiming to stymie Trump. The only method of achieving a balanced budget is to work hand-in-hand with Congress. Unfortunately, its members don’t seem too keen on doing that anytime soon, but they need to.
Their inaction might spur Trump to act without them in ways the courts are destined to strike down. Put simply, Congress needs to reassert itself and play the role of an equal partner conceived in our Constitution.
In the end, you don’t have to like the cuts Trump and Musk have endorsed or even the manner in which they seek to achieve them. There are plenty of reasons to hold concerns, but you can still appreciate that they are the first Oval Office duo in recent memory to supposedly want to get the United States’ spending in check.