Musk says DOGE’s goal to cut $2 trillion in spending is ‘best-case outcome’

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Elon Musk reiterated that his Department of Government Efficiency will try to cut $2 trillion from federal spending, but he said they may not reach that goal. “I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one," Musk said Wednesday in a conversation with Mark Penn, chairman and chief executive of ad company Stagwell, that was livestreamed on Musk’s social-media platform X.

Musk said the $2 trillion goal is “like the best-case outcome." He also said that the group should set an ambitious target to help them get results. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an effort to cut federal spending and regulations. The entrepreneurs have proposed ideas such as reducing the federal workforce, requiring federal employees to return to the office five days a week, and removing government agencies outright.

Musk previously suggested he could cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Musk and Penn spoke for more than 30 minutes, with their remarks covering a range of topics including advancements in artificial intelligence, colonizing Mars, and humanoid robots. Musk voiced confidence in his efforts to reduce federal spending.

“It’s a very target-rich environment for saving money," he said. “It’s very, very hard for people to care about spending someone else’s money," Musk said about government spending. He added: “Actually, I know people in the government who do care about, just as a matter of principle, spending money effectively, and they try to do so, and they can’t.