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(Daily Caller) Vivek Ramaswamy, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped as co-leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said Sunday the agency will pursue “mass reductions” and fight “bureaucratic pushback.”
In an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Ramaswamy explained to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that he and DOGE co-leader Elon Musk will work diligently to eliminate unnecessary federal agencies and make others more efficient.
He said DOGE would work toward holding federal agency workers accountable through mass firings, pointing out that many government employees are not efficient because, unlike elected officials, the risk of their removal is low. Bartiromo then questioned how Ramaswamy and Musk would counter congressional and agency rebuff.
Fox News host Maria Bartiromo presses Vivek Ramaswamy on how Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency will deal with bureaucratic “pushback.” pic.twitter.com/wCtlGAtpsy
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) November 17, 2024
“You’re gonna have pushback not just from the Left. You may have pushback from those very people who are running those departments, running those agencies” Bartiromo said. “They want as many people as they want in there. You’re gonna want to fire people. So, how are you going to deal with that, you’re also, perhaps, looking from pushback from Congress?”
Ramaswamy said many congressional allies “have their heart in the right place,” but said Republican politicians who promised to cut wasteful spending for the past 40 years have not achieved that. (RELATED: ‘Shut It Down’: Vivek Ramaswamy Talks To Tucker About ‘Mega Reorganization’ Of Federal Bureaucracy)
“Elon and I, we’re not politicians. We’re businessmen, we’re coming from the outside. Sometimes if you go inside, you become native to the system,” he told the Fox News host. “President Trump, I applaud him for his creativity and his openminded-ness for setting this up for success in a way that hasn’t happened before.”
Ramaswamy said the incoming Trump administration must “score quick wins” to make longstanding change to the U.S. government, setting the stage for congressional progress.
“I’m optimistic. It’s part of why we’ve set an end date on this. Our work is done by July 4, 2026. Unlike every other government project, we don’t want this one to last,” Ramaswamy said.
“These congressmen are responsive to the people,” he added. “Many of them are quietly on our side as well.”
Will entire agencies be deleted? Answer: yes. pic.twitter.com/QPe5VNGDhr
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 17, 2024
Bartiromo asked if DOGE will shut down entire federal agencies, to which Ramaswamy said it will.
“We expect mass reductions. We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright. We expect mass reductions en force in areas of the federal government that are bloated. We expect massive cuts in federal contractors and others who are over-billing the federal government. So, yes, we expect all of the above, and I think people will be surprised by, I think, how quickly we’re able to move with some of those changes given the legal backdrop the Supreme Court has given us,” he said.
