Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that if he wins the November election he will set up a “government efficiency” commission headed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Trump outlined his plans during a speech at the New York Economic Club on Thursday.
According to the former US president, the body will be an independent force charged with streamlining federal government.
“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms we need to do. It can’t go on the way we are now,” Trump stated.
He did not specify how exactly the panel would work, but noted that one of its first tasks would be to develop an action plan to “eliminate fraud and improper payments” within the government, which he claimed costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
Trump joked that Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has already agreed to take charge of the commission “because he’s not very busy.”
The Republican nominee added that Musk would “be a good one to do it,” and that the entire endeavor with the entrepreneur in charge would “be interesting.” Trump also praised Musk as a “smart guy” for giving him “his complete and total endorsement.”
Reports of Trump discussing the idea of an audit body have been around for weeks, although Thursday was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea. Responding to a recent report by the Washington Post on Trump’s clean-up plans and Musk’s potential appointment, the entrepreneur wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he “can’t wait” as “there is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go.”
Musk has said he “fully” endorses Trump in the upcoming election and is “willing to serve” under him.
Apart from the new audit panel and Musk’s nomination, Trump has said he plans to get rid of “a minimum of 10 old regulations for every new one,” as well as “embrace” industries of the future such as cryptocurrencies. He has also vowed to tame inflation and cut taxes, along with boosting domestic energy supply, improving housing policies, and creating a sovereign wealth fund to invest in “great national endeavors.”