Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney called the inaugural Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) a “PR campaign,” in a Monday interview, but said he respects the efforts by its appointed leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to reform the federal government.
“Look, I have nothing but respect for what these gentlemen are trying to do,” Mulvaney said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” referring to Musk and Ramaswamy.
“I was the last person in charge of government restructuring, and I failed miserably,” Mulvaney continued. “I hope they do much, much better than I did, okay?”
Mulvaney served as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before he was tapped to be acting White House chief of staff in Trump’s first administration. He then served concurrently in both roles.
“But DOGE isn’t a real thing,” Mulvaney added. “I mean, the Department of Government Efficiency? It’s a PR campaign. There’s no statutory authority. They’ll have the ability to sort of shine the light on abuses and problems within the bureaucracy, and God bless them for that.”
The newly formed commission, according to President-elect Trump, will work outside the government to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
The commission will have counterparts in the Senate and House, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), respectively.
Mulvaney suggested DOGE could take “real action” in two ways, through Congress or OMB.
“Number one, then they can go to, they can try to put pressure on Congress to change the laws, to change civil service rules so you can fire people,” Mulvaney said. “And then also, and this is absolutely critical, they can work through the Office of Management and Budget, which controls the flow of money out to all those federal agencies.”
“So everybody talks about Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk. I get that. Those are the big names. The most important name in this bureaucracy project is going to be Russ Vought, who’s been tapped to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the most important person in Washington that no one knows.”
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