(Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump endorsed Elon Musk’s idea for a government efficiency commission, vowing to create one and tap Musk to lead it if he wins in November.
This is badly needed https://t.co/H9AKYbDssZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2024
“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
“Need to do it,” he added. “Can’t go on the way we are now.”
Trump said that he’d appoint Musk to lead the commission “if he has the time.”
The Tesla and X owner responded to Trump’s offer in a statement of his own.
“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” Musk posted on X. “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”
I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises.
No pay, no title, no recognition is needed. https://t.co/5PSNtjBQn7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2024
Musk, who endorsed Trump this summer, proposed the idea for a government efficiency commission last month, arguing such a panel could study the national debt and how Congress could reassess spending. The commission could also look for ways to reduce the federal government’s bureaucracy, according to Musk.
“I think we need a government efficiency commission to say like, ‘Hey, where are we spending money that’s sensible? Where is it not sensible?’ We need to live within our means,” Musk proposed during a live-streamed conversation with Trump.
One possible cut Trump has already proposed is abolishing the federal Department of Education and “mov[ing] education back to the states.” The Education Department, he argued, only wastes U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“The United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world, and yet we get the worst outcomes,” Trump said. “We are at the bottom of every list.”
Trump also warned against Vice President Kamala Harris’s economic agenda during his address to the Economic Club of New York, arguing her “socialist” policies would drastically expand the size and scope of government.
