SINGAPORE: During United States President Donald Trump’s first address to the Congress since reclaiming the presidency, he gave a big shout-out to Elon Musk, praising the tech mogul for his work at the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Thank you, Elon, you’re working very hard,” said Mr Trump. “We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it I believe. They just don’t want to admit that,” he added, referring to the Democrats.
The president then went on to list out the billions of dollars of wasteful spending that DOGE had reportedly uncovered. On its website, DOGE estimates it has saved US$105 billion from asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.
DOGE – which has been tasked with making deep spending cuts by downsizing the government and eliminating waste and inefficiency – has been likened by some to a “wrecking ball” in its approach to cutting US federal spending and jobs.
Among the various steps taken to slash the federal workforce is a “deferred resignation” offer with the promise of several months’ paid leave for staff who voluntarily resign. Fresh from dismantling USAID, the administration has set its sights on shuttering the Department of Education. Thousands of probationary employees across various departments have also been terminated.
The cuts to the federal workforce have been unprecedented in scale and scope, leading to widespread anxiety and confusion. Just two weeks ago, federal workers were instructed to report their accomplishments from the previous week, with Musk announcing on social media that failure to respond would be taken as resignation.
With Singapore’s next general election due by November, some may wonder if such drastic action could conceivably happen here were there to be a change of government?
