The United States government budget for fiscal year 2024 (1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024) was approximately US$6.8 trillion with revenues of approximately US$4.9 trillion resulting in a deficit of approximately US$1.9 trillion. 

At a campaign rally in New York City for former President Donald Trump on 27 October 2024, Mr. Howard Lutnick, chairman and chief executive officer of New York, New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald, asked Mr. Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink) “How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?”  Mr. Musk responded “I think we can do at least $2 trillion.”  

The Wall Street Journal
New York, New York
9 January 2025

Musk Says DOGE’s Goal to Cut $2 Trillion in Spending Is ‘Best-Case Outcome’
Billionaire CEO of Tesla says there’s a good shot of cutting at least $1 trillion from federal expenditures

By Alexa Corse 

Elon Musk reiterated that his Department of Government Efficiency will try to cut $2 trillion from federal spending, but he said they may not reach that goal. 

“I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one,” Musk said Wednesday in a conversation with Mark Penn, chairman and chief executive of ad company Stagwell, that was livestreamed on Musk’s social-media platform X. 

Musk said the $2 trillion goal is “like the best-case outcome.” He also said that the group should set an ambitious target to help them get results. 

President-elect Donald Trump tapped Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an effort to cut federal spending and regulations. The entrepreneurs have proposed ideas such as reducing the federal workforce, requiring federal employees to return to the office five days a week, and removing government agencies outright.

Musk previously suggested he could cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. 

Musk and Penn spoke for more than 30 minutes, with their remarks covering a range of topics including advancements in artificial intelligence, colonizing Mars, and humanoid robots. 

Musk voiced confidence in his efforts to reduce federal spending. “It’s a very target-rich environment for saving money,” he said. 

“It’s very, very hard for people to care about spending someone else’s money,” Musk said about government spending. He added: “Actually, I know people in the government who do care about, just as a matter of principle, spending money effectively, and they try to do so, and they can’t. The system prevents them from doing so.” 

Musk oversees six companies, including electric-vehicle maker Tesla and space-exploration company SpaceX. Last year, Musk also dove into presidential politics, contributing roughly a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump’s election efforts and helping lead the initiative that became the Department of Government Efficiency.