Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are on Capitol Hill to discuss their newly-announced advisory team that the two billionaires say will cut regulations, spending, and headcounts within the federal government.

"The taxpayers deserve better," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy. "They deserve a more responsive government, a more efficient government."

The Department of Government Efficiency, or “Doge” - seemingly a winking reference to Musk’s cryptocurrency of choice, dogecoin - was first announced by Donald Trump last month.

“It will become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project' of our time,” the president-elect wrote on his social media platform, referring to a top-secret World War Two programme to develop nuclear weapons. “Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of 'DOGE' for a very long time.”

But despite Trump’s enthusiasm, much remains unclear about Doge and how it will function. As Musk and Ramaswamy meet with lawmakers, here’s a look at what we know about their nascent agency.

It is not a government department

Though Doge has the clear support of Trump, and has the word “department” in its name, it is not an official government department - the type of body that has to be established through an act of Congress and typically employs thousands of staff.

Instead, it seems Doge will operate as an advisory body, run by two of Trump’s closest allies and with a direct line to the White House.

In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal last month, Musk and Ramaswamy said they would “serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees”.

The pair will assist the Trump transition team in recruiting the Doge team, they said, who will provide guidance to the White House on spending cuts, and compile a list of regulations they believe are outside agencies’ legal authority.

“DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission,” they wrote.

To some supporters of this new body, Doge's outsider status - as well as its somewhat vague mandate - will serve as a benefit.

"They're a little more untethered to the bureaucracy itself and to the systems that slow processes down around here," Republican Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told the BBC on Thursday. "I think the lack of parameters is part of what will make them effective."

Cut, cuts and more cuts

The specifics do not seem nailed down, but the overall picture is clear - Doge’s leaders want major government reform, by way of major cuts.

The federal bureaucracy “represents an existential threat to our republic,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal. “Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.”

Musk, the world’s richest person, has said he can find more than $2tn in savings - around a third of annual federal government spending.

And the two have said they will slash federal regulations, oversee mass layoffs and shut down some agencies entirely.

"I think we should be spending the public's money wisely," Musk said on Thursday, on his way to a closed-door meeting with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican.

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