Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday that, if re-elected, he plans to adopt billionaire Elon Musk’s plan for a government efficiency commission to cut federal spending. Musk added that he has agreed to lead the commission “if he has the time.”
The announcement came as the former president delivered a speech to members of the Economic Club of New York in Midtown Manhattan, where he unveiled a seven-pillar economic plan.
“I will create a Commission on Government Efficiency charged with conducting a full financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said.
The former president continued: “As a first priority, this commission will develop an action plan to completely eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save trillions of dollars.”
Trump did not elaborate on the size of the commission or how it would be funded. Both the promised benefits and the timeline are wildly optimistic: the federal government employs millions of people and spends more than $6 trillion annually.
But the idea does fit with Trump’s long-standing plans to make it easier to fire federal employees and disband some federal agencies.
Trump and Musk had a tense relationship, but the two have since gotten back together and Musk supported the former president this summer after a would-be assassin opened fire on Trump and attendees at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In 2022, shortly after Trump called him a “bullshit artist,” Musk wrote on X: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset.”
On August 12, Musk interviewed Trump at X Spaces after technical issues delayed the event by about 40 minutes.
Other parts of the economic plan Trump laid out during his speech on Thursday include easing federal regulations, raising tariffs and making permanent the 2017 tax cuts he signed as president.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
