'Daunting reality': Elon Musk's government-slashing plan could hit brick wall

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has been tapped by Donald Trump to run a government-wide task force to cut spending and personnel, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, after an internet meme. But when the rubber meets the road, he may find himself able to do very little, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

"When Mr. Trump takes office, Mr. Musk’s group will face a daunting reality. An entire apparatus has developed over the centuries that allows the government to keep marching on in the face of economic shocks, wartime hardships, or — as in this case — political vows to diminish its size and spending," wrote David A. Fahrenthold, Alan Rappeport, Theodore Schleifer, and Annie Karni. "Any effort to slash the federal government and its 2.3 million civilian workers will likely face resistance in Congress, lawsuits from activist groups and delays mandated by federal rules."

ALSO READ: Multiple Republicans reveal plan to boot Mike Johnson as speaker

The issue, the report continued, is that "Unlike in his businesses, Mr. Musk will not be the sole decider, but will have to build consensus among legislators, executive-branch staffers, his co-leader and Mr. Trump himself. And federal rules ostensibly prevent Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy from making decisions in private, unlike how many matters are handled in the business world."

Musk famously slashed much of the workforce at Twitter when he took over that company, ultimately rebranding it as X.

One of the big problems Musk faces, the report noted, is transparency requirements.

"A 1972 law says federal open-records laws apply to advisory committees. If a committee does not follow those rules, it could be sued — and a judge could order the committee to stop meeting, or order the government to disregard its advice," the report said.

Already, Musk has raised ire for suggesting one of his first recommendations will be to "delete" the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the post-financial crisis agency that has returned $20 billion to consumers from abusive financial institutions.