President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to âfurther reign in government waste and officially implementâ the Department of Government Efficiencyâs âcost efficiency initiative.â
The order requires each agency head to work directly with the DOGE team to identify where government contracts and grants can be terminated or modified. The new process, which âshall commence immediately,â aims to reduce federal government spending or âreallocate spending to promote efficiency and advance the policiesâ of the Trump administration.
Trump signed the order after holding the first cabinet meeting of his new administration, during which his senior adviser, Elon Musk, who influences DOGEâs actions, spoke at length about the departmentâs goals.
đ¨ NEW: President Trump just signed an executive order to further reign in government waste and officially implement @DOGE's cost efficiency initiative.
Here is the text of the order:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the UnitedâŚ
â Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 26, 2025
âThe overall goal here with the DOGE team is to address the enormous deficit,â Musk told a room full of Trump cabinet members on Wednesday. âWe simply cannot sustain as a country two-trillion-dollar deficits. Just the interest on the debt now exceeds the Defense Department spending.â
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO later told the president and his cabinet that DOGE is working as âa support function for the president and for the agencies and departments to help achieve those savings to effectively find 15% reduction in fraud and waste.â Trumpâs executive order seeks to increase DOGEâs ability to slash federal spending. The order requires âEach Agency Head, in consultation with the agencyâs DOGE Team Lead, [to] conduct a comprehensive review of each agencyâs contracting policies, procedures, and personnel.â
According to the presidentâs order, the DOGE team will then give the DOGE administrator âa monthly informational report on contracting activitiesâ that includes âall payment justifications provided pursuant to that process, to the extent consistent with law.â
Earlier this month, the White House said that Musk was not the DOGE administrator and revealed on Monday that the administrator is Amy Gleason, a healthcare executive who worked for the Trump and Biden administrations. From 2018 to 2021, Gleason worked for the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), which became DOGE.
Trumpâs new directive for DOGE expands on the executive order he signed earlier this month that required heads of federal agencies to âcoordinate and consultâ with DOGE in the hiring process and to âlimit hiring to essential positions.â
DOGE and Muskâs increasing power and influence on the Trump administration has become concerning for some critics. Asked by a reporter on Wednesday if any members of the cabinet members were âunhappyâ with Muskâs work, Trump said that some might âdisagree a little bit,â but added, âFor the most part, I think everyone is not only happy, but thrilled.â
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