Trump aides explore plans to boost Musk effort by wresting control from Congress

Source: Washington Post

Trump aides explore plans to boost Musk effort by wresting control from Congress

The White House could challenge or seek to change a 1974 law that blocks presidents from choosing which programs to fund.


Tech billionaire Elon Musk listens to Donald Trump during a campaign event last month in Butler, Pennsylvania. President-elect Trump announced Tuesday night that Musk will co-chair an outside panel to cut federal spending, known as the Department of Government Efficiency. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Jeff Stein, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Cat Zakrzewski and Jacob Bogage
November 13, 2024 at 5:50 p.m. EST

President-elect Donald Trump’s aides are readying unconventional strategies to implement at least some recommendations from a new government spending commission with or without congressional approval, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations.

On Tuesday, Trump announced that tech billionaire Elon Musk and former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy would jointly lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” that would produce recommendations on overhauling U.S. agencies — an effort that people in Musk’s orbit say would aim to apply slash-and-burn business ideologies to the U.S. government. The commission will officially operate outside of the administration but work with the White House budget office, Trump said.

Although changes to government spending typically require an act of Congress, Trump aides are exploring plans to challenge a 1974 budget law to wrest the power to unilaterally adopt the Musk commission’s proposals, one of the people said. It is unclear if Trump will ask Congress to approve changes to the budget law or first appeal to the courts to do so, though aides have previously endorsed either approach. Ramaswamy, a former pharmaceutical executive who has said he would “stop funding agencies that waste money” and don’t operate on meritocratic principles, has publicly called on Congress to repeal the law and has suggested workarounds if it is not repealed.

That effort, if successful, could give Trump far greater authority to remake the federal budget on his own, altering the balance of power between the branches of government. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and many of his senior advisers publicly vowed to assert unilateral authority to rescind some federal funds, after Trump’s attempts to block aid to Ukraine led to his impeachment during his first term.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/13/elon-musk-government-efficiency-congress-budget-law/