Elon Musk Says Congress Needs to Act on DOGE’s Savings Goal

The Tesla CEO said DOGE only works in an advisory role.

Elon Musk looks on during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on March 24, 2025. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla CEO and presidential adviser Elon Musk said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has no power to initiate major government spending cuts and that Congress needs to act.

“I am certainly an adviser. I don’t have formal power, and that’s it. The president can choose to accept my advice or not. And that’s how it goes,” he said during remarks at an economic forum in Qatar on Tuesday.