Elon Musk is stepping back, but DOGE’s work is far from over

Elon Musk may be winding down his work with the Department of Government Efficiency, but that doesn’t mean the cost-cutting task force will be ending any time soon.

Musk, the chief executive of both Tesla and SpaceX, announced on Tuesday that he’d be reducing his presence at the White House DOGE office down to one or two days a week so he can focus more of his time on Tesla — which during the first quarter of 2025 saw its earnings plunge 71% year over year.

“There’s been some blowback for the time that I’ve been spending in government with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE,” Musk told investors during Tesla’s earnings call Tuesday.

Musk added that, although he will be cutting down his time at DOGE starting in May, he will likely continue working with DOGE for “probably the remainder of the president’s term, just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back.”

In the three months since President Donald Trump established the initiative, unofficially led by Musk, it has worked quickly to reduce government spending and gut the federal workforce.

In its attempt to fulfill its stated purpose of rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse, DOGE has targeted nearly every federal agency.

But DOGE’s work is far from over, and in some ways, it’s still just getting started.

DOGE-driven RIFs and agency consolidation will continue to reshape the federal workforce

For weeks, Musk’s work with DOGE has generated waves of controversy, with many Americans supportive of reform efforts but less willing to back the task force’s more aggressive actions in reorienting government departments and agencies.

DOGE has so far set in motion thousands of layoffs.

As of early April, the White House DOGE office’s work has led to over 216,000 firings, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The cuts will likely continue.

The IRS could lose nearly a quarter of its workforce, according to The New York Times. There’s ongoing litigation regarding DOGE’s moves to shut down the Institute of Peace, whose funding is appropriated by Congress. And thousands of jobs could be cut across the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services this year.

Efforts to overhaul and eliminate offices within the State and Justice departments have also been outlined by the administration, moving them closer to the ideological standards set forth by Trump.

Even though Musk will dial back his presence in Washington, his mission of a smaller government isn’t leaving the DOGE office.

DOGE has plenty of fights left in court

The legal challenges against many of DOGE’s actions — which make up a chunk of the dozens of lawsuits filed against the Trump administration — are just ramping up.

One lawsuit that’s likely to have a major impact on DOGE’s future — and could determine just how much transparency DOGE is required to give — was filed by the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in February.

CREW’s suit demands that DOGE provide greater transparency into its operations, alleging that DOGE is breaking federal law by not disclosing its records under the Freedom of Information Act.

Last week, the federal judge overseeing the case issued a preliminary injunction granting CREW a partial victory.

Judge Christopher Cooper found that despite DOGE’s arguments to the contrary, DOGE acts like a typical government agency and thus is likely subject to federal laws mandating records disclosure. Cooper ordered DOGE to provide CREW with the documents and answers it had requested, including internal emails between DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget.

Cooper also ordered DOGE’s official administrator, Amy Gleason, and the leader of DOGE’s daily operations, Steven Davis, to provide depositions within 24 days.

A number of other lawsuits have sought to hamstring DOGE’s power over the federal bureaucracy.

In another ongoing case, the Center for Taxpayer Rights, along with several other groups, sued the Internal Revenue Service alleging that DOGE had illegally accessed sensitive taxpayer data and systems at the IRS. The outcome of the case could determine just how much authority DOGE has as it seeks to access the personal data of Americans held by federal agencies.

And in National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought — which was filed by the union after the administration fired Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees — a temporary injunction is currently in place blocking the administration from disbanding the agency.

DOGE’s next big move may be revenue-generation

The White House DOGE Office is currently developing a system where special immigration visas dubbed as “gold cards” will be issued by the US, replacing the EB-5 visa.

The cost for each card? $5 million.

It’s part of what the Trump administration has outlined as a way for highly affluent non-US residents to work in the country and gain a pathway to citizenship.

“They’ll have to go through vetting, of course, to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens,” Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, said in February. “The president can give them a green card, and they can invest in America, and we can use that money to reduce our deficit.”

The New York Times reported that Musk is working on the software, with the effort being headed by DOGE staffers Marko Elez and Edward Coristine.

Lutnick said the gold card would be unveiled sometime in the coming days.

Its implementation could serve as a lasting legacy of Musk’s DOGE tenure.

The White House and DOGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

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