PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Plans from President-elect Donald Trump’s appointed heads of a new Department of Government Efficiency outlined in the Wall Street Journal has Virginia’s senators worried about the next administration’s plans to cut federal jobs.
The piece, written by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, outlines their plan for reversing what they call a “decades-long executive power grab.” They plan to reduce federal regulations, thereby cutting the number of federal workers and cutting costs. However, local senators are skeptical and are ready to put up a fight.
The new agency hasn’t yet started its work, but it has already stirred the pot, making legislators anxious about what’s to come.
“Elon Musk knows a lot about spaceflight and knows a lot about producing electric vehicles, but the notion that he’s going to come in and just suddenly decide how big the federal government should be, you really need some, some deep understanding,” Sen. Tim Kaine said Thursday.
Sen. Mark Warner also criticized the plan.
“The idea that you’re going to protect defense and cut $2 trillion and not touch Medicare or social security is not mathematically possible,” Warner said.
In their opinion piece, Musk and Ramaswamy say they’ll take aim at more than $500 billion in annual federal expenditures they say are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended. They say they’ll hire a team of “small-government crusaders” which will include those in the technical and legal arenas.
As far as their three-pronged plan goes, it’s the cuts to federal jobs that concern Kaine and Warner the most.
“I’m going to consider anything they look at, but when they just start off with the meat ax, I’m going to push back against them very, very strong,” Kaine said.
Said Warner: “We’re going to stand up for our federal workforce. If there are ways to be more efficient count me in, I do think our federal workers need to be back in the office.”
The Wall Street Journal story states that the two intend “to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions. The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified.”
Saying fewer employees will be needed to enforce those regulations, they plan to end. It goes on to say they plan to “help support their transition into the private sector. The president can use existing laws to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit.”
Kaine and Warner say they’ll be looking closely at all decisions presented to them.
“We’re gonna insist upon — you gotta show us your homework, you gotta show us the math, you gotta show us the details,” Kaine said. “It’s just not going to be some willy-nilly across-the-board number where you’re going to save it regardless of how many people get hurt, I’m not going to accept that.”
According to the article, Musk and Ramaswamy said they plan to dissolve the Department of Government Efficiency July 4, 2026.
