Elon Musk has praised the work of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and said “legitimate recipients” of Social Security will receive “more money, not less” as a result of its cost-cutting efforts.
Baier asked Musk, who serves as a special adviser to President Donald Trump, how he could reassure Americans that the work DOGE is doing to target fraud and abuse and slash waste in the federal government will not impact their benefits.
In response, the billionaire businessman said that the work the advisory committee is doing will “help their benefits.”
“I want to emphasize that, as a result of the work of DOGE, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money,” he said.
Musk did not provide further details regarding how DOGE’s work would boost Americans’ Social Security benefits but said that his comments “will be proven out to be true” and “let the record show that I said this.”
The tech entrepreneur, who the White House has confirmed is a “special government employee,” noted during the interview that he can only work on government business for 130 days each year.
When asked by Baier if he plans to stay past that 130-day period, Musk said he believes DOGE will have accomplished much of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion, or roughly 15 percent, within that timeframe.
“Our goal is to reduce waste and fraud by $4 billion a day, every day, seven days a week,” Musk said. “So far, we are succeeding.”
Some experts have said that DOGE will not be able to cut the deficit by 15 percent without impacting critical government services.
Musk said, however, that this was not the case.
“The government is not efficient, and there is a lot of waste and fraud, so we feel confident that a 15 percent reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services,” he said.
Despite the advisory committee’s apparent success in achieving its cost-cutting goals, Musk told Baier that he would like DOGE to move faster with its cost-cutting activities.
“In the context of the government, we’re moving like lightning,” Musk said. “In the context of what I’m used to moving, it’s slower than what I'd like.
“So what seems like incredibly fast action by government standards is—it’s slower than I'd like, to be totally frank. But we are making solid progress.”
Musk acknowledged the mounting legal challenges during his appearance on Fox News, and described the work of DOGE as “a revolution.”
“I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution,” he said. “But at the end of the day, America is going to be in much better shape; America will be solvent.
“The critical programs that people depend upon will work, and it’s going to be a fantastic future. Are we going to get a lot of complaints along the way? Absolutely.”
