Musk's DOGE takes aim at California's high-speed rail and everything else undefined

As DOGE, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's “Department of Government Effectiveness” get underway, the two billionaires seek to cut federal programs and agencies, as they seek to advance Musk's goal of cutting of 2,000 billion dollars in the federal budget. Although critics have noted that this goal is – like much of Musk's rhetoric – hyperbolic to the point of being impossible, that hasn't stopped the duo from loudly proclaiming a growing list of targets, in the intended to inspire fear and give the impression that they are doing something.

One of their recently adopted targets is California. long-suffering high-speed rail project. A federally funded effort that Musk had previously criticized, the rail project was initially approved by voters in a 2008 ballot. Since then, billions of dollars have been spent and less than a quarter of the proposed rail line was built. The project is partially funded by federal grants, although Trump – during his first term –temporarily put an end to this. When Biden took office, he I reactivated the financing tap. Now it is likely that it will be turned off again.

It's before been reported that Musk promoted the Hyperloopa futuristic underground shuttle, in order to pose problems for the Californian railway project. Musk has talked a lot about the Hyperloop for years, but never intended to build it. It was a backdoor strategy that the auto magnate said could make “the public and lawmakers rethink” their investment in the rail system. You know, because he sells cars. Last week, Ramaswamy also targeted the project by a post on Musk's platformX, describing the railway as “vain and useless project” which wasted “billions of dollars of taxpayers' money, with little chance of being completed during the next decade”. He added: “President Trump correctly canceled about $1 billion in federal funds for this mess in 2019, but Biden reversed that decision and doubled down. It's time to put an end to waste.

Ramaswamy's comments came shortly before he and Musk descended on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and discuss their upcoming plans. The two billionaires appeared in Washington on Thursday for a closed-door session with Republicans, during which they would have discussed how DOGE would “revive the principle of limited government”. During that meeting, attended by new Senate Republican leader John Thune, potential funding reduction targets were discussed, which apparently included mandatory spending programs. like Social Security and Medicare. Indeed, NBC reports that Thune told a reporter that “maybe mandatory programs are areas where they're looking at cutting, like Social Security, for example.” The news comes after a concerted push by some Republican leaders to demonize these programs.

Another goal Musk mentioned was federal subsidies for electric vehicles. In what appears to have been a rather brazen effort to promote a policy that would undoubtedly benefit his own electric vehicle company, Tesla, Musk reportedly told a reporter that he thought the government “should get rid of all the credits.” In July, Musk also suggested eliminating federal subsidies for electric vehicle companies, publication on: “Remove subsidies. This will only help Tesla. He added: “Remove subsidies from all industries too!”

The only reason Musk is in the position he is in now is because he used his immense wealth to help get Trump elected, and new information also came to light on Friday about the amount of money spent by Musk in this regard. An analysis of recently released Federal Election Commission documents found that the tech mogul had spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars– or about $277 million – in its effort to bring Trump back to the White House. The Washington Post noted that Musk likely spent more than that, since “the entirety of Musk's donations this election cycle” might not be “reflected in publicly available records.”

Although a large portion of Musk's financial contributions have gone to America PAC, the political action committee he created, he has also donated a significant amount to lesser-known groups, including a PAC little known designed to convince Americans that Trump did not want to suppress their abortion. rights. This PAC, named “RBG” in homage to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, received up to $20 million from Musk, according to the New York Times. reported.

Musk also said he plans to use much of the infrastructure built during the campaign to continue pushing his policy agenda in Washington. He said he wanted keep America PAC activewith the intention of using it during, as well as potentially use it to oust liberal prosecutors across the country. Musk is also apparently considering continue to use X (formerly Twitter) to broadcast his and Trump's agenda to the public.