Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been accelerating its overhaul of the federal government’s spending and workforce — leaving Democrats, labor unions, and federal employees in a frenzy.
The rapid ascension of DOGE has caused numerous controversies: upending federal agencies, ousting workers, attracting lawsuits, creating swirls of misinformation about government spending, and worrying DOGE opponents about Musk’s conflict of interests from his company SpaceX, which was promised billions in federal contracts in 2023.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to enact drastic changes to the federal government, including a government hiring freeze, requiring total in-person work, and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and positions. Meanwhile, he is giving DOGE the go-ahead to work toward Musk’s stated goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget.
And it appears the influence of the world’s richest man is only growing. Last week, the White House deemed Musk a “special government employee,” though his security clearance status remains unclear. He is also exempt from some rules for full-time government employees, including those involving financial disclosures and conflicts of interest.
This employee designation allows Musk’s position to exist in a gray area between private citizen and federal employee that performs “important, but limited, services to the government, with or without compensation, for a period not to exceed 130 days” during a one-year period, the New York Times reported.
As DOGE continues to attempt radical changes to the federal government, here’s what to know about the commission.
What is DOGE?
Trump announced plans to create the Department of Government Efficiency, known colloquially as DOGE after the viral meme and cryptocurrency, shortly after winning the November election. The newly established commission — which is not a cabinet-level department — would operate outside the government in partnership with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to reduce federal spending. Its work is supposed to be completed by July 4, 2026, Trump said.
Few concrete details were known after that announcement until Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that renamed the United States Digital Service as the United States DOGE Service, establishing the commission in the Executive Office of the President. The order also directed agencies to have their own “DOGE Team,” consisting of at least four employees.
Some of Musk’s tactics to assert DOGE’s influence have been drastic, raising red flags for Democratic lawmakers, unions, and consumer advocates. The commission obtained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, which stores sensitive data from most Americans, although a federal court later limited DOGE employees’ access. Its attempt to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development, by placing most of the staff for the U.S. overseas aid agency on leave starting Friday, is also under litigation.
And, as claimed by the DOGE social media account, it purged more than $1 billion in spending from canceled contracts for diversity, equity, and inclusion — a policy that Trump and Musk have vehemently railed against.
Why was Musk chosen to lead?
Musk first publicly mentioned his idea for a government efficiency commission in August 2024 during an X Spaces conversation with Trump, during which the tech mogul detailed how Trump surviving an assassination attempt during his rally in Butler, Pa., the prior month had persuaded him to endorse the Republican.
The X owner called it Trump’s “strength under fire.”
Since then, Musk has positioned himself as an unwavering Trump ally, going as far to personally campaign for his fellow University of Pennsylvania grad in the Keystone State during the 2024 presidential election. His pro-Trump America PAC — which could wade into Philadelphia’s district attorney race this year — sponsored Musk’s town halls across the state and ran a controversial $1 million giveaway for swing-state voters.
His activism during the election was lauded by Trump and some Pennsylvania Republicans for helping to deliver the president’s victory.
A ‘slow-moving’ judicial system vs. Musk’s ‘lightning actions’
Previous presidential administrations have come into office with their own ideas on how to shape the government — see former President Bill Clinton’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government, led by former Vice President Al Gore, for example.
But Musk’s strategy via DOGE is “unprecedented,” said Christopher Borick, a political science professor and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. Its outreach is far more expansive than what has been attempted previously and likely benefits from a Republican trifecta in Washington, Borick said.
“As someone that’s studied government for most of my life, I would say the rules — both constitutional and statutory — limit individuals from going too far, and I’ve always seen that as the reality of American government, maybe one of the great strengths of American government,” Borick said. “What Musk is doing challenges that belief that I’ve held to.”
Some of DOGE’s limits have been identified in the judicial system. For example, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s “deferred resignation program,” which gave federal employees the chance to resign with eight months’ pay, was temporarily blocked in the courts after labor unions sued.
However, DOGE may be moving too quickly from agency to agency for the courts to deliver a swift response, Borick said.
“You have a fairly, you know, slow-moving system trying to respond to lightning actions, and I think Musk and his team are well aware of that, and that’s part of their strategic efforts,” Borick said.
How has DOGE affected Philadelphia?
Executive orders and government directives aligned with DOGE’s overall goal have exhibited profound effects on federal employees in Philadelphia.
Trump’s hiring freeze and in-person work executive orders could put an added strain on an already stretched-thin workforce, local labor leaders say. Last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs — which employs the largest share of federal workers in Pennsylvania — provided employees with further guidance about protocols for returning to the office.
DOGE officials have been active at the VA, NBC News reported.
And the “deferred resignation program” (now on hold in the courts until Monday) left Philadelphia’s federal workers wary of their job security as OPM — which urged employees to choose “higher productivity” jobs in the private sector — could not guarantee employment for those who do not resign.
