'Let's get rid of unauthorized spending' is the sort of thing that you might see in a Facebook meme.".
Ramaswamy and Musk expanded on that suggestion in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday, outlining the newly minted out-of-government advisory commission's plans for reducing excess spending.
The Constitution requires Congress to authorize any and all government spending, which it does through funding bills, or appropriations.
"For anything the federal government is spending, there's going to be an appropriation," Reich told Salon in a phone interview.
Still, as an out-of-government entity, DOGE can only make recommendations to Congress for ways to pare down the federal budget.
While policymakers have room to eliminate excess federal spending in bipartisan ways, Kogan said, the amount of wasteful government spending is far smaller than what Ramaswamy and Musk suggest.
Two-thirds of federal spending is mandatory, while the remaining discretionary spending largely goes toward defense. »
