FOX Business’ Lydia Hu reports on the Department of Government Efficiency’s latest plan to cut spending during an appearance on ‘Varney & Co.’
Bill Gates recently offered his thoughts on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On the topic of President Donald Trump’s DOGE, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder told The Wall Street Journal’s Emma Tucker that “looking at government expenditures on a sort of zero-based budgeting approach could be a valuable thing.”
Trump unveiled plans to set up DOGE in mid-November, just a handful of days after he won the 2024 presidential election. More recently, on Inauguration Day, he used an executive order to form the department.
Washington , DC – January 20: President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Jabin Botsford /The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The president and Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who has been tasked with helming DOGE, have both said the goal of the department is to significantly pare back spending and boost efficiency within the federal government. In Trump’s executive order, it said the department will “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency and productivity.”
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Gates said he believes the U.S. government’s deficit “needs to be brought down, because otherwise it will create a financial problem for us and so that effort could come up with some good things.”
In fiscal 2024, the federal government had a $1.83 trillion deficit after bringing in $4.92 trillion in revenue and spending $6.75 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. The Congressional Budget Office earlier in January forecasted a deficit of $1.9 trillion for fiscal 2025.
The Microsoft co-founder hypothesized DOGE will need to “look at everything” for potential cost-cutting “given the numbers that they’ve tossed around,” according to The Journal. He mentioned examples such as pension, defense and healthcare.
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 15: Microsoft founder Bill Gates reacts during a visit with Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to the Imperial College University on February 15, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“My view is, most departments there probably are 10-15%,” he told the outlet.
“I do worry a little bit that if you say, ‘hey, let’s completely get rid of things,’ some of the things that have long-term benefits” could suffer, Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, said.
“I obviously believe in HIV medicines, where the US is keeping tens of millions of people alive. If you cut those off, not only would they die when we have a cure on its way, but the negative feeling you have in, say, Africa would be worse than never having done the thing at all,” the billionaire told The Journal. “So parts of the budget I know well, yes, you could optimize, but I hope the value system still includes the half a percent that saves all those lives.”
Gates also said he and Trump had a lengthy meeting after the election where the Microsoft billionaire brought up health topics such as HIV and polio, according to the outlet. He thought Trump was “energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation,” adding that he was “frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.”
Overall, DOGE is seeking to trim $2 trillion in government spending, with Musk telling Stagwell Inc. CEO Mark Penn in early January that it had a “good shot at getting” $1 trillion.
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DOGE on Sunday evening said it was “looking for world-class talent to work long hours identifying/eliminating waste, fraud and abuse” in software engineer, information security engineer, financial analyst and human resources positions. The department previously sought candidates in November.
UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 5: Elon Musk is seen in the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., while on the Hill to talk about President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” on Thursday, December 5, 2024. (Tom (om Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
It is expected to complete its cost-cutting efforts by early July of next year.
In the same Wall Street Journal interview, Gates was also faced with a question about Kennedy, whom Trump has nominated to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the president’s administration.
“Well, he wrote a book saying that Tony Fauci and I kill millions of children and make billions of dollars with vaccines, and people can judge for themselves whether that’s correct or not,” he responded.
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The first Senate hearing on Kennedy’s nomination is scheduled for Wednesday, Fox News Digital reported.
