Elon Musk, Donald Trump's right-hand man, details his plan to reduce the role of the federal state in a “radical” way

Subsidies to Family Planning, civil servants and deregulation: Elon Musk, who became Donald Trump's right-hand man, detailed Wednesday, November 20, in a column at Wall Street Journalhis project « radical » reform of the federal state. The richest man in the world explains how, with the blessing of the conservative Supreme Court, the president-elect will be able to slash public service numbers and spending, even if it means bypassing Congress, which holds power. budgetary power.

“On November 5, voters gave Donald Trump a clear mandate for radical change, and they deserve it”writes the multi-billionaire in this article co-signed by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, with whom he will lead a brand new “governmental efficiency commission”. This body with an advisory role is neither a ministry nor a government agency. “We do things differently. We are entrepreneurs, not politicians”they write, adding: “We will cut costs. »

The two signatories recall that their role must end on July 4, 2026, the day of the 250^e anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The boss of Tesla, SpaceX and X, himself the beneficiary of large federal contracts, played an extremely important role in Donald Trump's campaign. His new role, even advisory, raises the question of possible conflicts of interest, since Mr. Musk could make recommendations concerning his own sectors of activity.

End of teleworking and relocation outside Washington

To base his project in law, the entrepreneur invokes two recent decisions of the American Supreme Court, to which Donald Trump had given a lasting majority of conservative judges during his first term (2017-2021). In June 2022, the Court significantly reduced the powers of the federal state, ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency could not issue general rules to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants, because it does not was not authorized by Congress.

In June 2024, it had further reduced the powers of federal agencies, by returning to the Chevron doctrine, a forty-year-old case law which served as a legal basis for regulations on water, medicines or financial markets. The decisions of the highest court “suggest that a host of existing federal regulations” are not legally founded and that they could be “immediately suspended” by presidential decree, writes Mr. Musk.

That “will stimulate the economy”promises the multi-billionaire, who develops in this forum an ultra-liberal vision of the balance of power between public power and the private sector. According to him, the “Encysted and ever-growing bureaucracy is an existential threat” for America. Mr. Musk thus envisages “massive staff reductions in the federal bureaucracy”ensuring that the sacked officials will be “supported in their transition to the private sector” or will benefit from departure conditions “decent”.

He also suggests returning to the principle of teleworking, which “would lead to a welcome wave of voluntary departures”or to relocate federal agencies outside Washington, which would make them less attractive. The businessman puts forward the figure of “500 billion dollars” of expenses which could be eliminated very quickly by the Republican president by cutting subsidies to public broadcasting or to organizations “progressives” such as Family Planning. During the campaign, the Tesla boss assured that he could reduce federal public spending by $2,000 billion. That would represent a 30% drop from the fiscal year 2024 total.