Trump’s cost-cutting project continues as Musk prepares to step back from DOGE

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump’s goals for the Department of Government Efficiency remain even as leader Elon Musk prepares to spend less time on government matters and more time with electric vehicle maker Tesla.

When Trump first created DOGE, before taking office, he said it would be the government cost-cutting equivalent of the “Manhattan Project.” Both Trump and Musk promised Americans would get a more efficient government after DOGE addressed government waste and cut regulations, but the final product – a streamlined government – isn’t due until July 4, 2026, the nation’s 250th birthday.

Starting in May, Musk said he plans to spend less time in Washington after Tesla reported a 71% drop in profits during the first quarter of 2025. Musk’s time working in government had been limited from the outset, with both Trump and Musk saying so from the beginning.

Musk made that position clear during an earnings call with investors on Tuesday.

“I think starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” he said.

But Musk is not leaving DOGE and he said DOGE’s mission remains critical to the nation’s future.

“I’ll have to continue doing it for I think we’ll play it the remainder of the president’s term just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back,” he said. “So I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful.”

Musk touted his DOGE accomplishments, despite the toll it has taken on Tesla.

“There’s been some blowback for the time that I’ve been spending in government with the Department of Government Efficiency or Doge. I think the work that we’re doing there is actually very important,” he said. “And the Doge team has made a lot of progress in addressing waste and fraud. I believe the right thing to do is to just fight the ways and forward and get the country back in the right track and working together with President Trump and his administration. Because if the ship of America goes down, we all go down with it, including Tesla and everyone else. So I think this is this critical work.”

Musk said most of the start-up work for DOGE was already done.

“I do think there’s you know, the large slug of work necessary to get the votes team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done,” he said. “The major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done.”

Musk initially said DOGE would aim to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, but he later cut that in half. At a Cabinet meeting earlier this month, Musk said DOGE was on pace to cut $150 billion from the federal budget.