Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are busy eliminating waste within the U.S. government, though it is not the first time a presidential administration has sought to make the government more efficient.
DOGE’s work has drawn comparisons to the Clinton administration’s Reinventing Government initiative, or REGO, which was launched on March 3, 1993, just a few weeks after Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the nation’s 42nd president. Six months after launching this initiative, Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore showcased a report on the administration’s “national performance review,” which detailed how the government could save $108 billion over the course of five years.
“First of all, it tells us how to cut wasteful spending,” Gore stated in previewing the report. “We can get rid of those outdated subsidies, not just for ‘mow-hair sweaters,’ but in every area. We’ll consolidate departments. We’ll get rid of duplicate departments. We’ll allow competition to bring about better service at lower cost.”
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President Clinton also spoke at the event, stating he had asked his vice president to venture out on “a risky adventure” with REGO in March 1993. The goal was to make the government work more efficiently at a lower cost to better serve the public and “rebuild the confidence” that people have in the U.S. government.
In the end, REGO resulted in 377,000 fewer civilian employees in the federal government, achieving the smallest federal government employment since the Kennedy administration in the 1960s. Additionally, by March 1998, the five-year anniversary of REGO, agencies were able to achieve $137 billion in savings of the $177 billion that had been recommended.
In September 2023, three of Gore’s top advisers on REGO reflected on the accomplishments of the initiative, with Elaine Kamarck, a senior adviser to the vice president on the initiative, saying that her proudest achievement with REGO was helping the federal government “transition into the information age.” Bob Stone, who was the initiative’s project director for five years, described how “changing the culture” of the government’s regulatory and enforcement agencies was his favorite accomplishment with REGO.
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The REGO initiative has gained newfound attention on X, with Musk sharing footage of the September 1993 news conference and asking “what happened” to these Democrats. The video shared by Musk, originally posted by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), also featured footage of then-President Barack Obama in November 2011, in which the president signed an order to cut government waste and promote efficiency.
What happened to them?
pic.twitter.com/M9ER0I8Y34— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2025
Burlison stated on X that he would play this video during a DOGE committee hearing. He did just that on Wednesday.
“I think it speaks for itself,” Burlison said after playing the clip.
