Former President Donald Trump’s latest push to gut the regulatory state is the formation of a government efficiency commission akin to what Tesla founder Elon Musk has proposed.
Trump announced the move Thursday during a speech before the Economic Club of New York. The commission will perform "a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government," he told the crowd.
The commission will also make recommendations for "drastic reforms," including ways to reduce fraud in the federal government and improper payments, he said. Trump claimed his plan will "save trillions of dollars," calling the savings "massive."
News about the commission follows a conversation that Trump had with Musk on X. The SpaceX founder pushed the former president to organize such a task force and volunteered to help with the endeavor.
Musk praised the move in a post on X after the news about Trump's plans for the commission broke.
"I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises," he said. "No pay, no title, no recognition is needed."
The head of the largest union for federal employees immediately blasted the plan. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said such a move would actually lead to higher levels of government waste, fraud, and abuse.
“Billionaires like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the folks behind Project 2025 want to get rid of the apolitical civil service, fire hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants, and replace them with a corrupt spoils system where government workers are hired and fired based on their loyalty to Donald Trump, not on their ability to do the job or fulfill their oath to uphold the law and the constitution," Kelley said in a statement.
The proposed commission is just the latest foray into the Republican fight against regulations and the administrative state. Republicans have lambasted President Joe Biden for the raft of rulemaking and use of federal agencies.
They contend that Biden has used rulemaking to shape policy while circumventing congressional authority.
Trump has long railed against the regulatory state. In 2016, he campaigned on the idea that the administration should eliminate two existing regulations for every new one. On Thursday, he called for that ratio to be upped to that to 10 to 1.
Trump also said he would propose lowering the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that manufacture their products in the United States.
Republicans in Congress have also targeted the administrative state.
Earlier this year, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) introduced a bill, dubbed the Sunset Act, that would require all major rules to expire 10 years after they are enacted unless approved by both chambers of Congress under a joint resolution.
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Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) has her own plan, known as the REINS Act . The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act targets rulemaking from the executive branch and would mandate that every new “major rule” proposed by federal agencies must be approved by both the House and Senate before going into effect.
The REINS Act describes a “major rule” as any federal rule or regulation that may result in an annual economic effect of more than $100 million, a major increase in consumer prices, or adverse effects on competition, employment, and investment, among other strictures.
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