Vivek Ramaswamy Thursday reacted to a list of cost-cutting suggestions posted by Fox News and said anything that does not advance the interests of American citizens will come on the chopping block. The list included $33 million of government expenditure to run ‘Monkey Island’ in South Carolina; $549K to a Russian lab performing experiments on cats’ brains to find out whether cats could still walk on treadmills if a part of their brains is removed; fund for drag shows in Ecuador etc.
“If it doesn’t advance the interests of American citizens, we’re putting it on the chopping block. Amazingly, there are a number of programs whose authorization from Congress has *already expired* yet $$$ still flows out the door. That needs to end next year,” Vivek posted.
The clear memo to the DOGE is to slash the bureaucracy and cut down on unnecessary expenditures from government funds. Vivek and Elon Musk will be in charge of the new department and the work has already begun.
“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of DOGE for a very long time. To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department fo Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” Donald Trump said in his statement announcing Musk and Vivek for the project — where Musk was called the Great Elon Musk and Vivek as American Patriot.
“We shouldn’t let the government spend money on programs that have expired. Yet that’s exactly what happens today: half a *trillion* dollars of taxpayer funds ($516 B+) goes each year to programs which Congress has allowed to expire. There are 1,200+ programs that are no longer authorized but still receive appropriations. This is totally nuts. We can & should save hundreds of billions each year by defunding government programs that Congress no longer authorizes. We’ll challenge any politician who disagrees to defend the other side,” Ramaswamy said.
“If we succeed in achieving our objectives at DOGE, I expect that a higher % of the nation’s smartest & most ambitious graduates will end up working in the government, for finite periods of time, instead of just flocking to Silicon Valley & Wall Street. This will be a good thing,” Ramaswamy said.
