Elon Musk is backing away from his promise to cut $2 trillion in US government spending as co-chair of the fund Government Efficiency Departmentor DOGE – which, yes, shares its abbreviation with ticker DogecoinElon Musk Favorite cryptocurrency— shortly after the budget-cutting target raised eyebrows among experts on Capitol Hill.

in interview With political strategist Mark Penn on Wednesday, Musk said his additional government belt-tightening initiative — launched by Donald Trump Officially in November- He has a "good chance" of making federal budget cuts of up to $1 trillion.

That's nearly half of the $2 trillion that Musk promised last year that DOGE would cut from the government's balance sheet. A $2 trillion haircut would be “the best outcome,” but not necessarily the most likely, Musk said in the interview broadcast on his social media platform

“But I think you kind of have to have some extra weight,” Musk added. “I think if we try to get $2 trillion, we have a good chance of getting $1 trillion.”

During the interview, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO also returned to familiar talking points about what he sees as "wasteful spending" by US government agencies. He described the federal government as a "goal-rich environment to save money."

“It's like you're in a room full of targets,” Musk said. “You can close your eyes and you can't miss.”

Musk and Trump had floated plans to create a government efficiency department during the election campaign, and the president-elect formalized the initiative shortly after he won the election, putting Musk in charge. Along with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Businessmen promised to push for "unattractive cost-cutting" of the federal budget deficit, which could include cutting support for entitlement programs such as Social Security.

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk He said In a statement in November.

However, budget experts have raised doubts about the practicality of Musk's $2 trillion plan. They noted that the US government's entire discretionary budget, or the money the federal government allocates to non-mandatory initiatives that DOGE would likely cut, is only $1.7 trillion, which is less than the amount Musk initially pledged to cut from the government's balance sheet.

Meanwhile, other critics have pointed out that DOGE's influence will be severely limited by its lack of legal authority and limitations imposed by congressional policies. As an initiative outside the government, DOGE can only make policy recommendations to the Trump administration. The quasi-official department will need allies in Congress, which it is still working to win over, to put its plans into action.

Musk avoided directly addressing these pain points during the interview on Wednesday, instead sharing his hopes that the agency will achieve an "epic result."

“If we can reduce the budget deficit from $2 trillion to $1 trillion and free up the economy for additional growth, so that the production of goods and services keeps pace with the increase in the money supply, there will be no inflation.” Musk said. “So I think this is going to be an epic result.”

Modified by Andrew Hayward