President-elect Donald Trump chose the two men to lead the new department, which aims to reduce costs across the federal government.

Here are the top four things Musk and Ramaswamy want the country to know about their new outfit.

Entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats

Both men stressed that they are not officials and will serve as outside volunteers.

“This is why we do things differently,” they wrote. “We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not as federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we don’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We will reduce costs.

Ramaswamy and Musk said they were assembling “a small team of small-government crusaders” to work closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget. They target three types of reforms: regulatory repeals, administrative reductions and cost savings.

Rely on the rule of law

“We will particularly focus on driving change through executive actions based on existing legislation rather than through the adoption of new laws,” they said.

“Our North Star for reform will be the U.S. Constitution, with emphasis on two critical Supreme Court rulings issued during President Biden’s term,” the two wrote, referring to West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (2022) and Loper Bright vs. Raimondo (2024).

The two Supreme Court cases “suggest that a plethora of current federal regulations exceed the authority granted by Congress under the law.”

Musk and Ramaswamy plan to present Trump with a list of regulations they say are unnecessary. The president-elect would then use his executive authority to “suspend enforcement of these regulations and initiate the process of review and rescission.”

Both men said they expected backlash over allegations of overreach by Trump over the measures, but they said the regulations were never authorized by Congress.

If these regulations are repealed, a future president will need to ask Congress to reinstate them, they said.

Reduce the federal workforce

The duo also aims to reduce the number of people employed by the federal government. A quick way to ensure some voluntary compliance would be to force civil servants to return to the office five days a week, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

“If federal employees are unwilling to show up, American taxpayers should not pay them for the privilege of staying home in the time of Covid,” they said.

For larger-scale personnel changes, DOGE plans to advise Trump to issue additional “rules governing competitive service” that would allow him to “curb excessive administrative growth, from large-scale layoffs to offshoring of federal agencies outside the Washington area.”

Reduce costs and save money

At the heart of the ministry is the aim of reducing costs and delivering savings for constituents. DOGE plans to ask the Supreme Court whether the Impound Control Act of 1974, which prevents the president from terminating spending authorized by Congress, is unconstitutional. This would allow Trump to cut spending via executive actions.

Without it, DOGE leaders said they could still target funds that were not authorized by Congress or that were used in ways that Congress did not intend. They cited funds to Planned Parenthood or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as possible cuts.

Musk and Ramaswamy also hope to conduct large-scale audits that they say will save money. The Pentagon, which just failed its seventh consecutive audit, would be a prime target for reform, they said.

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Both DOGEs are expected to be backed by “a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court” and hope to complete their task, which is scheduled for the 250th anniversary of the United States on July 4, 2026.

“We are prepared to face the onslaught of entrenched interests in Washington,” they said. “We hope to win. Now is the time to act decisively. Our main goal for DOGE is to eliminate the need for its existence by July 4, 2026, the expiration date we have set for our project. There is no better birthday gift for our nation on its 250th anniversary than to establish a federal government that would make our founders proud.