Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk if he wins the Nov. 5 election, during a wide-ranging speech in which he laid out his economic vision for the country.
Speaking at the New York Economic Club, the former president also pledged to slash corporate tax rates for companies that manufacture domestically, establish “low-tax” zones on federal lands where construction companies would be encouraged to build new homes, and start a sovereign wealth fund.
Trump had been discussing the idea of an efficiency commission with aides for weeks, people with knowledge of those conversations have told Reuters. His Thursday speech, however, was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea.
It was also the first time Trump said Musk had agreed to head the body. Trump did not detail how such a commission would operate, besides saying it would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments” within six months of being formed.
“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump told an audience that included Trump’s former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, and financiers Scott Bessent and John Paulson.
Musk said on an Aug. 19 podcast that he had held conversations with the former president about the commission and that he would be interested in serving on it.
“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” the Tesla chief wrote on X on Thursday. “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”
Politicians have called for separate efficiency commissions before. Republican President Ronald Reagan established a similar body during his 1981-1989 term called the Grace Commission.
Trump’s proposal drew a rebuke from Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing about 750,000 federal workers. He accused Trump and Musk of wanting to gut the nonpartisan civil service and replace fired workers with allies.
“There’s nothing efficient about that,” Kelley told Reuters.
Asked by Reuters about Musk heading the proposed government efficiency panel, Paulson said it was “great to have him as an ally. He’s a terrific businessman, and I think the government could become much, much more efficient.”
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