One thing all Americans should be able to agree on is that our government (and how it operates) leaves a lot to be desired.
Unfortunately, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seem ready to bring the same kind of arbitrary and ego-driven reforms that cut the value of Twitter (now X) by 80%, to the federal government. As its name implies, DOGE is supposed to focus on improving efficiency. But instead of presenting reforms to streamline government sensibly, Musk’s initial forays are mostly focused on political retribution and a desire to gut the federal workforce no matter the cost to efficiency, expertise, and security.
For too long both Republicans and Democrats have shied away from the hard choices needed to reform the federal government. If President Trump and Musk continue on their current path, another window of opportunity will have been tossed away. Fortunately, there is time to halt the madness, and instead adopt a reform agenda that draws on successful government reform initiatives—like the first Hoover Commission (1947 to 1949) and the Clinton-Gore reinventing government (REGO) policies—that offer a clear roadmap on how to save taxpayers dollars and enhance government performance.
1. Cut the number of government contractors first, then look to streamline the federal workforce. The size of the federal workforce reached record lows by the end of the 1990s. Under REGO, the civilian government was cut by over 400,000 positions and the true size of government (military, contractors, grantees, postal, and civil service combined) dropped to around 7.4 million. Importantly, the reduction in federal workers was accompanied by a decline in the number (about 800,000) of private federal contractors as well. Unfortunately, Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden have overseen a significant increase in the true size of government, with estimates in the range of 10.9 million positions. Contractors now make up almost half of that total—1.5 billion higher than when Trump began his first term.
2. Focus on bad regulations, not arbitrary numbers. As Philip Howard has noted, “Common sense disappears as soon as it steps into the goo of 150 million words of federal law and regulation.” But focusing on cutting an arbitrary number of regulations is dangerous because it incentivizes attacking the good and the bad alike. To fix what Jennifer Pahlka has termed the Kludgeocracy, DOGE must instead do the hard work of identifying rules that are contradictory, create negative unintended consequences, and prevent human judgement from being engaged.
3. Don’t ignore customer service. While the first priority of DOGE should be to cut waste and improve efficiency, government reform is about a lot more than saving money. Only 26% of Americans have a positive view of government. One reason—customer service is not a priority. REGO focused relentless on the experience citizens had when interacting with the federal bureaucracy. REGO cut the time taxpayers had to wait to get their refunds, opened visitor centers at certain national parks every day except Christmas, mailed out replacement Social Security cards in 5 days or less, and created 24/7 hotlines at various agencies. By the end of the Clinton-Gore Administration, citizen trust in government doubled to almost 50 percent, an astounding reversal.
4. Privatize inherently non-governmental functions, not core government functions.
While the profit motive pushes private-sector companies to be efficient and entrepreneurial, profits aren’t always an effective way to get contractors to perform to maximum public benefit. During the Iraq war, private contractors walked away with hundreds of billions of dollars and some were charged with serious crimes in the handling of their responsibilities. As Dorothy Robyn notes in a paper for the Brookings Institution, the private sector is better a managing non-inherently governmental functions. Her paper looks at the success of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), which saved the government millions and dramatically improved the quality of housing for our servicemen and women. In other cases, government is better served by keeping responsibilities in house.
Another area where the private sector could be of immense help is in the modernization of the government’s IT infrastructure. This is a major challenge for government and will be difficult to implement, but given his background and expertise in IT, this should be Musk’s (and DOGE’s) primary focus.
5. Build infrastructure faster and for less money.
As Marc J. Dunkelman argues in his forthcoming book Why Nothing Works, five decades of progressive determination to slow public works projects has left government with a process mired in delay. Everyone affected by the construction of a new bridge, or transmission line, or housing project should have an opportunity to weigh in before anyone breaks ground. But no one should have a proverbial veto. The greater good must be able to triumph over private concerns in cases where the public interest is clear, lest it appear to everyone that government is fundamentally broken. Delay and uncertainty drive up costs. What we need is a process that considers all the factors, but then empowers someone to ratify the necessary trade-offs.
6. Learn from the success of states and local governments. States and local governments are the nation’s laboratories of democracy. Governors like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania (Permit Fast Track Program) and Brian Kemp of Georgia (Georgia’s High Career Demand List) are producing real results that benefit taxpayers. DOGE should comb through the reforms being developed at the state and local levels and bring them to Washington.
7. Get buy-in from the Federal workers. If Musk is serious about finding waste, then he needs to stop berating the civil service and instead engage them as partners. The Hoover Commission and REGO were successful in great part because their leaders worked with government employees to find the waste. As Elaine Kamarck (former head of REGO) has noted, “There’s lots of waste in the government, but it is like the fat in a good piece of steak: it is marbled in.” Without the help of federal workers, DOGE is destined to fail, and Musk will end up with egg on his face.
One final thought. Making government work better and cost less should be a priority for Republicans and Democrats. But even if DOGE is successful in making program execution maximally efficient, that’s just a starting point, and won’t obviate the need for hard choices to address the fundamental imbalance between tax and spending that President Trump has so far eschewed.