The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officially went live on social media platform X on Wednesday, just a day after President-elect Trump announced that X CEO Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would be co-chairing the department.
Within nearly 18 hours, the DOGE account had collected nearly 170,000 followers with only a single post of Trump’s statement about the department.
By Wednesday afternoon, the account posted its second tweet, which read, “Working overtime to ensure your tax dollars will be spent wisely.”
During the overnight hours, Musk announced the department would take suggestions and concerns from Americans about how the government is spending money.
“All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency,” Musk wrote. “Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know! We will also have a leaderboard for [the] most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.”
When announcing the new department on Tuesday, Trump said its purpose would be to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”
“DOGE” will advise and guide the administration by utilizing knowledge from outside of government and will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform.”
TRUMP’S PICKS SO FAR: HERE’S WHO WILL BE ADVISING THE NEW PRESIDENT
Musk and Ramaswamy, both of whom are successful entrepreneurs, have been adamant about their desire to cut unnecessary spending in order to reduce the government’s debt of at least $35 trillion.
“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said.
TRUMP’S FIRST CABINET PICKS DECIDEDLY NOT ISOLATIONISTS: UKRAINE, ISRAEL BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF
Ramaswamy also said he and Musk “will not go gently” shortly after Trump announced their new roles.
The establishment of the department comes despite the already established U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is an independent, nonpartisan agency in the legislative branch intended to investigate, evaluate and audit federal spending and performance.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
