Trump says Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Musk has said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, which is more than the $1.7 trillion discretionary budget. He has offered few details about what he wants to cut, although he has attacked relatively small recipients of federal money like the Education Department and NPR.

During the election campaign, Trump promised to abolish the Department of Education.

Musk said the cuts would cause “temporary hardship” for some people.

Ramaswamy has called for mass layoffs at federal agencies, a tactic that could circumvent legal protections that otherwise protect federal public services from targeted political cuts.

He said this week on the bureaucracy right there.”

Ramaswamy campaigned for president in the Republican primary and called for the abolition of federal agencies. Among his first targets was the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the education department; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and the Food and Nutrition Service within the Agriculture Department.

Trump said Tuesday that the new department would exist “outside the government” and offered White House members advice on overhauling federal agencies. The agreement would also likely allow Musk and Ramaswamy to continue working in the private sector and serve without Senate approval.

Trump said he wanted the department to contribute to “drastic change” and compared its ambitions to those of the World War II project to develop nuclear weapons.

“It may become the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time,” Trump said. “Republican politicians have dreamed of the goals of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time.”

He gave the department until July 4, 2026 to complete its work.

In his broader efforts to weaken the government, Trump could seek to ask Congress to give him “presidential reorganization authority” under the Presidential Reorganization Act so he can consolidate, reorganize or abolish agencies within the executive branch. The last time Congress granted such powers to a president was during the Reagan administration.

Trump could also take action to eliminate jobs for federal workers by re-signing his “Schedule F” executive order, which would classify tens of thousands of federal public employees as political-at-will jobs to either hire politically-minded workers or remove one large part of the federal workforce as a whole.

Trump signed this executive order in October 2020; President Joe Biden retracted it.

The Government Accountability Office, the federal government’s main regulator, said it would provide Trump’s new agency with all necessary information.

“GAO has historically collaborated and shared information when presidential or congressional commissions were established to address the federal government’s programs and operations, as well as fiscal and other challenges. We will take the same approach with all newly formed commissions and stand ready to support the new Congress and the Executive Branch,” Gene said. L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO, in a statement.

“As the investigative arm of Congress, GAO continues to examine how federal funds are spent and provides lawmakers and agency leaders with objective, impartial, professional, and evidence-based recommendations that help the government save money and operate more efficiently,” Dodaro added.

During an interview with NBC News last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who could play a key role overseeing public health issues in the next Trump administration, said he planned to dismantle numerous health departments in the executive branch.

He singled out “the nutrition divisions” of the Food and Drug Administration, saying they “have to go.”

Trump’s announcement Tuesday brings together two of Trump’s most prominent tech surrogates who come from very different backgrounds.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is among the richest people in the world and owns the social media platform X. Although he is a newcomer to electoral politics, his super PAC spent more than $152 million, to elect Trump and other Republicans this year.

SpaceX has contracts with federal agencies worth $3.6 billion this year, according to government data. It is not clear whether this spending would be eligible for possible cuts.

Ramaswamy ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination against Trump and dropped out in January after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses. He is the founder of a biotech company, Roivant Sciences.

Trump did not immediately provide details about how the two men would work together or who might fund the department’s operations when it operates outside the federal government.