Entire federal agencies will be “killed” as part of President-elect Donald Trump’s so-called government department efficiency, contractor Vivek Ramaswamy has promised.

Ramaswamy, co-leader of DOGE with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, teased plans for “massive cuts” to the federal workforce and said the group would make recommendations “in real time.”

“We expect some agencies to be eliminated outright,” Ramaswamy, 39, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We expect massive workforce reductions in bloated areas of the federal government.

“We expect massive cuts to federal contractors and those who overcharge the federal government,” he continued. “I think people will be surprised by how quickly we are able to act.”

Critics such as Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) argue that eliminating entire agencies will require Congress.

“Government 101: No federal agency will be “deleted” without an act of Congress. The President cannot (undo) by executive order what Congress has done by statute. Congress, not the President, has the final say on the fate of federal agencies. » Torres wrote about X.

During his candidacy for the 2024 Republican primaries, Ramaswamy had frequently raised the possibility of delivering a massive blow to the administrative state, including a plan to lay off federal employees if their social security number ends in an odd number.

Trump, 78, officially announced DOGE last week and explained that it would complete its work by July 4, 2026. Despite its title, DOGE is not technically a federal department. Its name is inspired by the Dogecoin cryptocurrency and memes.

Ramaswamy argued that the November 5 election results gave Trump a mandate for radical change.

“This time, they did not vote for progressive change,” he argued. “We voted for radical change, and voters deserve to get it. And we’re focused on how to get there as soon and as quickly as possible.

Citing previous Supreme Court rulings on federal overreach, Ramaswamy pointed out that this was an opportunity to downsize.

“Revoke these regulations, remove these regulations, and then that will give us the industrial logic to reduce the size of this administrative state,” he said. “And the beauty of it all is that it can be accomplished simply by executive action without Congress.”

DOGE is not without its skeptics.

During the election campaign, Musk suggested that the government could reduce approximately $6.75 The country’s budget is about $2 trillion, an amount that exceeds all discretionary spending, including military spending – about $1.6 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year.

Most government spending is considered mandatory and includes items such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and debt interest.

Critics harped on Musk’s US Super PAC identify interest payments on the national debt as an example of unnecessary spending in 2023.

“The first reviews are not good. I read his 12-point government manifesto on waste. And he said, look at all this money we’re paying in interest on the debt,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. » from CBS News.

“Guess what? You have to pay interest on the debt,” he continued. “There is a syndrome where very wealthy people who got rich through finance or as tech entrepreneurs decide that they are heart surgeons and capable of leading the United States… early returns are not good.”

Musk had taken over Twitter, a platform he later renamed X, in late 2022, and significantly reduced the micro-blogging company’s staff.

Despite the naysayers, Ramaswamy was confident in his and Musk’s ability to undertake sweeping reforms of the federal bureaucracy.

“I think the public is on our side. Most citizens understand that their tax dollars are not well spent,” he said. “Elon and I are not in this on merit. But I think we’re going to build consensus to make deep cuts that haven’t been made for most of our history.”

As of late last week, the national debt topped $36 trillion.