The United States will apply its own “chainsaw” to the public sector, paraphrasing the term that the Argentine president, Javier Milei, made his own, and that was so liked by a self-confessed proud admirer of the Milei method, Elon Musk. The owner of Tesla gave a forceful reply this week to those who claim that he does not have sufficient powers to cut the American public sector as Donald Trump has entrusted him to do. Far from all defeatism, Musk predicts the future departure of thousands of workers from the Administrations, either through resignation or dismissal, in an article published by ‘The Wall Street Journal’.
In that text, half signed with the head of the Department of Government Efficiency Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk argues that voluntary dismissals constitute a very feasible way to slim down state and federal departments. Specifically, it is enough to eliminate the option of teleworking, according to the authors of the article, to create an unbearable situation for thousands of officials.
“We would welcome these departures after imposing the obligation to go to the office five days a week,” say the two trusted men of the future president of the United States.
Musk has been leading by example in this regard for years, given that he has eradicated remote work in the companies he owns, both at Tesla and at X, the old Twitter.
Regarding the dismissals of personnel who work in the Administration, Musk is very far from seeing an obstacle in the rights acquired by every person who has opted for a job through a public tender. The magnate does not go so far as to deny the existence of this shield, but he clearly limits its scope: “to protect employees in case they are victims of political reprisals.”
When these motivations do not exist, and the adjustments are articulated as “staff reductions that do not affect specific employees”, who could have been indicated by their political affiliations, then the law allows dismissals to occur.
Normatively, there would thus be room for Trump to sign decrees that lead to massive layoffs in the Administration or, failing that, allow the transfer of entire state agencies outside the limits of Washington.
Both Musk and Ramaswamy predict that this next wave of dismissals and resignations will not be able to be judicially annulled, alleging that both incurred a conflict of interest, being judge and party in these types of decisions. Both remember that the Department of Government Efficiency is not integrated into the organizational chart of the official institutions of the US Government. In other words, none of them have the status of public employee, much less that of civil servant.
With this, Musk has promised to cut “two trillion dollars” of spending from the almost seven that the US budget reaches, to eliminate the gigantic deficit that the country suffers.
The US budget reached 6.1 trillion dollars of total expenses in 2023 (in 2024 it will reach 6.7 trillion, although these calculations will be made on 2023, which is already closed). Of these, 3.8 billion are “mandatory”, that is, imposed by law: Medicare (public health care for retirees), Medicaid (health insurance for low-income people)Social Security pensions, unemployment benefits, aid for low-income families, food stamps and other similar items. All these expenses are required by law and cannot be eliminated except by another law.
Congress could approve changes to these items (except pensions) by a simple majority in both chambers, but Republicans will ultimately have a tiny margin in the House of Representatives: probably 220 to 215, which will remain at 217 to 215 if the appointments of Trump of several deputies as ministers come out ahead. And, knowing the historical indiscipline in their ranks, approving a law to cut social aid seems almost impossible: all Republican votes will be “the decisive one”, and the ads blaming them for being “the key vote” that left thousands of citizens Americans without certain social assistance would be constant until the next elections, in just two years.
Trump already had enormous problems in 2017 to eliminate Barack Obama’s health reform due to internal rebellions, and then the Republicans had a majority of 47 deputies. With a majority of just 2 votes now, the political cost they would have to pay for making cuts to the ‘working class’ would be practically unbearable for all their deputies, especially those in the most competitive constituencies.
Added to this is the payment of interest on the debt: 659,000 million in 2023, which has skyrocketed to 949,000 million in 2024, and growing at a good pace, with the constant increase in the debt recorded in recent years and the rise in interest rates.
The only thing that the Government can unilaterally cut is the so-called “discretionary spending”, that is, the items that are not required by law: 1.7 trillion dollars in 2023. That figure, to begin with, is already much lower than what Musk promised to cut back. But practically half of that section is dedicated to defense: 805,000 million in 2023 and growing at a rate of 7% annually. Getting Republican deputies and senators to approve cuts to military spending is something that no one thinks of.
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