The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20241205235716/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musks-doge-benefits-from-being-whatever-people-want-it-to-be-195724767.html
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy received a rapturous welcome to Capitol Hill Thursday as questions piled up about exactly what the goals are for their extra-governmental "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE).
Musk wasn’t overly interested in clarifying as he moved between meetings.
At one point, as he passed, a reporter shouted out “What’s DOGE?” The world's richest man didn't stop and only offered a chuckle in response.
But the duo’s (perhaps strategic) ambiguity may be helping the effort for now, with a range of players from Republicans to Democrats to business leaders all offering supportive words but offering dramatically different reasons.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency, carries his son "X" on his shoulders at the U.S. Capitol between meetings with lawmakers in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) ·Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
Some business leaders like the idea of regulation cuts and a more stable deficit situation, not to mention the potential business opportunities that DOGE may provide.
Republicans, meanwhile, are often more eager to use DOGE to take what House Speaker Mike Johnson often likens to a blowtorch to the regulative state.
For now, the ebullient mood on Capitol Hill Thursday was part of a range of clear early economic tailwinds President-elect Donald Trump is enjoying even as he won’t take office for another six weeks.
Thursday’s meeting was orchestrated by Speaker Johnson, who said Thursday that he saw his and his colleagues' roles in the DOGE effort as about launching investigations to find the waste, fraud, and abuse in government and then to “lay it bare for the American people [and presumably DOGE] to see.”
"We have a lot of great ideas that we're discussing,” added Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia after the meeting.
Greene is set to lead many of those negotiations at the chair of a DOGE subcommittee in 2025. She added that one of the big topics of her meeting with the leaders concerned interest on the national debt.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., talks with the media in between meetings with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and House and Senate Republicans about President-elect Donald Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" on Thursday.. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) ·Tom Williams via Getty Images
Other lawmakers focused on their own own areas of interest Thursday. In one example, Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky said he planned to offer Musk and Ramaswamy ideas around financial services.
Barr is currently in the running to chair the crucial House Financial Services Committee next year.
Others watching from the sidelines Thursday have offered somewhat different reasons for their support.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz became the first Democrat to join the House's "DOGE caucus," in large part because of his focus on breaking up the Department of Homeland Security.
At one point Musk did tell reporters that wanted to talk more with Democrats in the future.
Senator Bernie Sander and Elon Musk. (Images: Getty Images)
Business figures have perhaps their own reasons.
Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, a former giver to both Democrats and Republicans, offered supportive words focused on using technology to find efficiency, including some his company could provide.
"We're already talking to them about how to bring this technology in to create more efficient agencies," he offered in a Yahoo Finance appearance this week. "And we want to continue to have even more conversations."
Another undercurrent of CEO reaction so far is curiosity about whether Musk might use his new political sway to hurt his rivals.
"I believe pretty strongly that Elon will do the right thing and that it would be profoundly un-American to use political power to the degree that Elon would hurt competitors and advantage his own businesses," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman offered Wednesday at the New York Times’s DealBook conference.
Moving goalposts among the DOGE leadership
Part of the varied reasons for support could also be attributed to somewhat shifting messages from both Musk and Ramaswamy.
Musk laid down a seemingly immovable marker when he promised in October he could cut "at least $2 trillion" from the annual federal budget to put the US on a sustainable financial path.
Other times he has framed the primary focus as cutting regulations.
Ramaswamy offered a different top priority on the eve of Thursday's gathering in an appearance at the Aspen Security Forum.
He said that only looking at DOGE as a means to cut the deficit "understates the impact we hope to have," putting his No. 1 metric for success instead at increasing GDP growth.
He offered downsizing the federal deficit as his second-most-important metric, followed by revived "sense amongst the citizens of this country that they can actually hold their government accountable” as a No. 3.
Vivek Ramaswamy, co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency, arrives at the U.S. Capitol ahead of meeting with lawmakers. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) ·Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
Many experts have questioned exactly how much DOGE will ultimately be able to execute, especially without the power to act unilaterally.
Slashing regulations could be a multiyear process, with DOGE set to end in 2026. Likewise, the entire US discretionary budget is $1.7 trillion, meaning the committee will almost surely need to dip into programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to accomplish their goals.
And Ramaswamy has pushed off the question of those dicey "entitlement" cuts, saying recently "that's a policy decision that belongs to the voters" and promising instead to focus on areas like mismanagement to "nail the savings we harness from that before just jumping to the question of taking away entitlements that people have paid into."
"Musk’s experience with governance is limited," geopolitical intelligence analyst Peter Zeihan said on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast this week, adding that “Donald Trump is an ideas guy, not a details guy.”
But those worries seemed to be far from top of mind Thursday as Musk crisscrossed the Capitol with his son on Thursday, garnering attention everywhere he went.
"Lil X is having a great time," Musk posted in between meetings.
This post has been updated with additional developments.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
Every Friday, Yahoo Finance's Rachelle Akuffo, Rick Newman, and Ben Werschkul bring you a unique look at how U.S. policy and government affects your bottom line on Capitol Gains. Watch or listen to Capitol Gains on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
