Statement of Center for Progressive Reform Policy Director James Goodwin
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s hard to know where to begin with President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement last night of a new government “efficiency” agency under the leadership of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
It’s tempting to dismiss this proposal as deeply unserious — after all, it adds new bureaucracy that, despite being charged with promoting efficiency in the federal government, would only duplicate the efforts of such existing agencies and institutions as the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). There are also the optics of assigning to two billionaires the responsibility of making federal agencies more responsive to the needs of the public.
But as we learned under Trump 1.0, even the most foolish of initiatives can still pose a significant threat to the health of our economy and our democratic institutions. Make no mistake: This one has the potential to inflict a lot of damage in the next few years.
My fear is that this body will provide the institutional platform for implementing many of the most radical proposals in Project 2025, including Schedule F (converting many federal civil servants into at-will employees), rooting out programs that advance so-called “anti-white racism,” and redeploying regulatory enforcement as a tool of political vengeance.
It is likely to become the epicenter of corruption in the Trump administration. Musk and Ramaswamy would be well positioned to deploy the institution’s powers to advance their personal financial interests and are likely to do so. Others in the business community — including foreign nationals — can similarly be expected to use this agency as a forum to seek out privileges for themselves and punishments for their competitors in exchange for political support for the Trump administration. This rampant and obvious corruption, of course, would only further contribute to the erosion of public esteem for our governing institutions, adding more momentum to our backsliding into illiberalism.
Fortunately, however, Congress anticipated such problems when it passed an obscure law called the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The Musk and Ramaswamy initiative has all the trappings of a body that would be subject to that law, with Trump explaining its role as “provid[ing] advice and guidance from outside of Government.” Significantly, FACA imposes important requirements on federal advisory committees to prevent corruption and safeguard rule of law principles, including open meetings and public participation opportunities.
Going forward, we at the Center will draw on our expertise in laws like FACA to hold this body accountable and, hopefully, to limit the damage.
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