What could a Trump-Musk government efficiency commission solve?

In his recent conversation with former President Donald Trump, Elon Musk proposed the idea of a government efficiency commission focused on ensuring that taxpayer dollars are “spent in a good way.” Trump liked the idea and welcomed Musk’s help.

One can only imagine what ideas the man who has pioneered private space travel, electric vehicles and satellite internet communications would bring to government reform. But for Musk and other potential commissioners on a future efficiency panel, here are some priorities that should be on the agenda. 

The first is stopping government fraud. The federal government loses between $233 billion to $521 billion to fraud annually, as much as $4,000 for each American household. Federal investigators and watchdogs are working to apply technology and data analytics to stop fraud, but the federal government is years behind the private sector in modernizing financial controls. 

The second is ending federal misspending. In addition to outright fraud, the government made $236 billion improper payments last year, including $175 billion in overpayments. Altogether, the federal government has misspent nearly $3 trillion over the past 20 years.  

Beyond cracking down on this waste and abuse, a government efficiency commission should focus on the good-government reforms recommended by federal watchdog agencies. Congress’s watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, reports that there are more than 5,200 open recommendations for federal agencies, which could save taxpayers between $106 billion and $208 billion if they were implemented. The federal agency inspectors general report more than 14,000 open recommendations government-wide, which could also yield substantial efficiencies if made.

A fourth area where technology experts could help would be the modernization of information technology and cybersecurity. The federal government spends more than $100 billion annually on IT and cybersecurity programs, but major technology projects routinely run years behind schedule and billions over budget while struggling to meet the federal government’s needs. The federal government’s cybersecurity has been a widely recognized risk since the 1990s, but not enough has been done about it, leading to major security breaches over the past decade.

Fifth, an efficiency commission could study government regulations and explore ways to streamline red tape that imposes costs without improving health, safety and welfare. For inspiration, the commission could look to efforts such as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Regulatory Clean-Up Initiative, which uses technology to review existing regulations and policy guidance to address obsolete language or references. Using artificial intelligence to conduct a widespread review of all government regulations and policy guidance could save substantial time and resources. 

Finally, the White House and an efficiency commission could explore other ways that AI could streamline federal programs. A recent White House report examined how AI may disrupt the workforce and identified legal, office and administrative workers as among the most vulnerable to disruption. A commission could explore how to use AI to replace federal workers and make the remaining workforce more efficient. 

All of these efforts would involve the executive branch improving its management and performance. But a government efficiency commission could also look toward the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and provide recommendations for how the president could encourage Congress to streamline government. For starters, the White House could review the federal government’s “zombie programs,” which have lived past their authorization but still receive funding. The Congressional Budget Office recently reported that Congress will spend more than $500 billion on expired programs this year. A White House initiative could present to Congress proposed legislative language to update or terminate these programs.

Setting up an efficiency agenda would be the easy part of the job, and would not guarantee that the federal government actually makes any of the commission’s recommended changes. But simply by calling attention to the need to streamline and modernize government, a commission could focus White House and Cabinet leaders’ attention on these opportunities to save hundreds of billions over time. It should be a goal of the next president, no matter who wins in November. 

Dan Lips is head of policy at Foundation for American Innovation.