Trump Set Ambitious Goals for DOGE—Can It Succeed?

‘Trump has enormous power in the budget,’ economist and fiscal expert Chris Edwards said.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, offers his hand to Tesla founder Elon Musk backstage during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, in Butler, Pa., on Oct. 5, 2024. Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will head Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

As entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy trek to Washington to meet with GOP lawmakers this week, they have an even longer road ahead of them to achieve their goals of enacting major cuts to government budgets.

The incoming Trump administration has set itself an ambitious goal through the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will be headed by Musk and Ramaswamy, of slashing federal budgets and even eliminating an agency or two.