American Republican Senator Ted Cruz stated that Americans should be grateful to tech billionaire Elon Musk for leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to help comprehensively reform the government, streamline federal agencies, and reduce wasteful spending.
In an episode of Fox News aired on Wednesday, Cruz expressed to host Sean Hannity, “I believe the American people should say thank you, thank you, thank you to Elon. He worked for the American people for four months without pay. He eradicated a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse, all at a great personal cost to himself.”
“Look at his stock holdings, the value of his stocks has dropped by billions of dollars. This is personal sacrifice, and the death threats against him have been enormous,” added the Republican from Texas. “I believe Elon is an extraordinary entrepreneur, an extraordinary business leader.”
Since Trump returned to office as President of the United States in January, Musk has been leading the newly established Department of Government Efficiency to carry out substantial reforms, streamline federal agencies, and largely dissolve organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that have been misusing federal funds, with the aim of reducing government operating costs and eliminating wasteful behavior.
However, Musk’s actions, especially the massive reduction of federal workforce, have sparked strong backlash and led to a series of violent attacks and vandalism against Tesla vehicles. Due to the severity of the situation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has classified such attacks as domestic terrorism incidents and launched investigations.
At the time Cruz made the above comments, Musk’s role as a Special Government Employee (SGE) was set to expire on May 30, and he would officially step down from his position in the Department of Government Efficiency.
According to the U.S. government’s definition, a Special Government Employee is “anyone who works for the government for 130 days or less within 365 days.” In his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk was a senior advisor to the President.
As a close ally of Trump, Musk also expressed gratitude to the President earlier on Wednesday.
In a post on his social media platform X, he wrote, “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee is coming to an end, I want to thank President Trump (@realDonaldTrump) for providing the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The mission of the Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) will only strengthen over time as it has become a code of conduct for various government departments.”