The appointed co-heads of a new “Department of Government Efficiency” are hoping to massively cut the federal workforce.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy announced their intention to help President-elect Donald Trump nullify thousands federal regulations. That would then allow “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
From the op-ed:
A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy. DOGE intends to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions. The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited. Employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect, and DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector. The president can use existing laws to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit.
Musk and Ramaswamy detail additional plans including mandatory in-office work requirements — “requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome” — and targeting waste and unauthorized spending.
“With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” they write. And that could help address the federal budget deficit and fast-rising interest costs on federal debt.
According to Arlington County’s 2024 profile, 20% of employment in the county — or 44,300 jobs — are attributable to government.
Significant cuts to the federal workforce would no doubt hurt Arlington’s economy, at least in the short term. But it’s not without precedence: federal jobs have been moving out of Arlington over the years, thanks to initiatives like the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. In 2004, there were 55,400 government jobs in Arlington, or 28% of overall employment.
Despite fewer government jobs compared to 20 years ago, Arlington’s economy remains strong, with low unemployment, ongoing population and job growth, and rising property values.
It’s unclear how many federal jobs might be cut as a result of the Musk and Ramaswamy effort, whether there would also be cuts to federal contractors, how many of the cuts would be local, and whether those cuts would significantly alter Arlington’s current trajectory.
Given all of the above, what do you think of the plan?
