The proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) by Donald Trump, to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has sparked interest despite its misleading name. This non-governmental advisory body aims to streamline federal regulations, which span more than 180,000 pages.

However, achieving significant spending cuts may prove challenging. As Fareed Zakaria points out, “Washington is quite inefficient, but most of what it does is write checks — with great efficiency.” Mandatory programs like Social Security and Medicare comprise about 60% of the federal budget, which Trump has pledged to protect.

The Defense Department, with its $800 billion budget, and interest on national debt are also considered untouchable. This leaves only about 15% of the budget for potential cuts, making Musk’s goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts seem unrealistic.

Despite these challenges, Zakaria supports the reform impulse, stating, “I think it will force greater scrutiny and efficiency on government, which needs it.” He also believes it will compel the Republican Party to confront its long-standing promise of dismantling the New Deal-era government expansion.

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Historically, Republican presidents have struggled to significantly reduce government size. Even Ronald Reagan, who campaigned against big government, saw federal debt increase during his tenure.

Zakaria argues that the American public has consistently voted for “Republican levels of taxation and Democratic levels of spending,” leading to the current debt situation. He warns that drastic spending cuts could trigger an economic downturn, citing Europe’s austerity experience in the 2010s.

While acknowledging the need for reform, Zakaria concludes, “With DOGE, we might finally get an effort to actually deliver on the central Republican promise of the past 90 years. And we will find out what America thinks of it.”

Read more at The Washington Post