2024-09-05 21:02:52
BarcelonaThe Republican candidate in the presidential elections of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that if he wins, he plans to create a committee to improve the government and reduce public spending, and he said that he will be headed by. billionaire businessman Elon Musk. “I will create a government executive committee charged with overseeing the financial and operational performance of the entire federal government and making recommendations for strong reforms,” Trump said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
He did not give many details, but said that the committee will have to identify ways to eliminate unnecessary expenses and will develop a work plan to “completely eliminate and illegal payments within six months.”
The idea was presented by Musk, one of his great friends. In mid-August the owner of X (former Twitter) interviewed Trump on his platform and suggested to the Republican candidate that he create a committee dedicated to reducing public spending as a way to combat inflation. According to Reuters, Trump has been discussing the idea with his advisers in recent weeks.
At that time, Musk had already offered to play a role: “I would be happy to help in such a committee.” This Thursday, before Trump’s announcement, the businessman (the richest man in the world, according to Forbes) posted on X that he hopes to “serve America if it’s an opportunity.” “No salary, no title, no recognition is necessary,” he added.
Trump’s proposal drew immediate pushback from Everett Kelley, president of the American Association of Government Employees, a union that represents about 750,000 federal employees. He has accused Trump and Musk of wanting to destroy civil service and replace fired workers with friends. “There is nothing effective about it,” Kelley lamented in a statement to Reuters.
The United States government has the Government Accountability Office, an independent agency tasked with investigating spending and performance at the government level.
The Republican candidate has said that Elon Musk is very busy with his companies but that, however, “he has agreed to take a step forward”. Now, billionaire businesses can interfere with the alleged conflict of interest rate, as they are regulated by many federal agencies. NASA, for example, is one of SpaceX’s biggest customers, and Tesla’s business receives federal tax credits. In addition, the social network X is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.
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