With a BRAC-like Structure DOGE Can Succeed Where Other Commissions Have Failed

The federal government’s greatest inefficiencies stem from bloated entitlement programs

Photo by porcorex on Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has launched the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), appointing Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to tackle waste and streamline federal bureaucracy. Their task, set to conclude by July 4, 2026, is ambitious: to cut regulations and wasteful spending, and restructure agencies. By empowering DOGE with BRAC-like powers Congress can ensure its recommendations are implemented and thus avoid the fate of similar commissions that failed in the past.

Recently, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who’s on a mission to end the inflation and fiscal profligacy that drove Argentina into economic ruin, offered this advice to Musk and Ramaswamy:

“[G]o all the way, […] push it to the very limit.”

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy laid out their plans to focus on executive, not legislative, action to reduce federal regulations and federal bureaucracy. They wrote:

“Critics claim that we can’t meaningfully close the federal deficit without taking aim at entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which require Congress to shrink. But this deflects attention from the sheer magnitude of waste, fraud and abuse that nearly all taxpayers wish to end—and that DOGE aims to address by identifying pinpoint executive actions that would result in immediate savings for taxpayers.”

Streamlining federal bureaucracy and eliminating inefficient regulations are important goals, especially for unchaining the engine of US economic growth. And yet, the urgent need for entitlement reform cannot be overstated. The goal of many critics isn’t to deflect attention from the waste that DOGE currently aims to address but to “push [DOGE] to the very limit” of what it might accomplish, including addressing the core drivers of the fiscal crisis before it undermines American strength.

Entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare drive nearly all projected non-interest spending growth and account for 100 percent of the United States’ unfunded obligations over the next 75 years. They’re also inefficient: Social Security funds wealthy retirees at the expense of poorer workers, while a third of Medicare spending provides no tangible value to patients.

Some have identified President-elect Trump’s campaign promise not to cut Social Security and Medicare as a challenge to entitlement reform. However, these programs can be reformed without reducing current benefits by simply slowing the growth of future benefits.

For example, if Social Security switches from wage indexing to price indexing for calculating initial benefits, we could eliminate 85 percent of the program’s long-term shortfall. This change would continue to protect retirees from inflation, eliminate unnecessary bonuses for new beneficiary cohorts, and do so without cutting a single penny from current benefits. As for Medicare, by transforming it into a Social Security-like cash program, with its cost growth limited to GDP growth, we can empower patients with choice and autonomy and create incentives for a better-functioning health care market.

To bypass the political gridlock that’s standing in the way of meaningful entitlement reform, DOGE should work with Congress to authorize it and give it a mandate based on the proven BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) model. Created by Congress in 1988, BRAC empowered independent experts to recommend military base closures that Congress could reject through a joint resolution. Here is how BRAC succeeded in saving taxpayers billions:

Once the president approved the BRAC commission’s recommendations, the plan would go to Congress for 45 days of legislative review. During that time Congress could use a fast-track mechanism to reject the plan. If Congress did nothing, the recommendations would go into effect. This self-executing process eliminated the need for unpopular votes in Congress on the specifics of the plan. Instead, once Congress approved the commission and empowered it with concrete, specific, and well-defined objectives, it was on a fast track to implementation, unless Congress explicitly rejected the details of the plan.

DOGE needs Congress to grant it a carefully designed, narrow, and specific authority to reorganize federal government operations and redesign entitlement programs to accomplish its goals of reducing government waste and slashing excess bureaucracy to save $2 trillion annually. By authorizing DOGE with BRAC-like powers, Congress can fast-track DOGE’s recommendations, subject to a joint resolution by Congress rejecting its plan.

Any executive actions by President Trump could be easily undone by his successor four years down the road.

DOGE isn’t the first attempt by a president to address inefficiencies in the federal government through an “outsider” entity. The Grace Commission’s 1984 report proposed $424 billion in savings over three years but failed because its recommendations required congressional approval in a separate bill. Without a structure like BRAC, DOGE risks the same fate. As the Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin explains, “Congress also acts as a 535-member board of directors, where a few constituents’ concerns about the effect of specific cuts can overcome a broad desire to trim spending.”

This expanded scope shouldn’t detract DOGE from its objective of eliminating burdensome regulations and streamlining federal agencies. On the contrary, it could further broaden its role and target other wasteful spending, such as aid-to-state programs that cost $1.1 trillion annually. Put simply, DOGE should set ambitious goals and pursue them boldly.

To achieve these goals, it must have concrete objectives, such as:

• Reviewing major areas of government spending, including entitlement programs, discretionary spending, and tax expenditures.

  • Proposing reforms to stabilize the federal debt at no more than 100 percent of GDP.

  • Proposing reforms that ensure the long-term sustainability of major entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.

• Assessing the efficiency of government programs and agencies.

  • Recommending cost reductions or elimination of programs that are duplicative or no longer serve their intended purpose.

  • Recommending a federal scope reduction by targeting programs that usurp functions best carried out by states, localities, or the private sector.

With that said, even if DOGE remains primarily an advisory body, it can still play an important role by bringing attention to the waste and inefficiencies in the government and highlighting the potential taxpayer savings that can be achieved if Congress takes action. As G. William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, has noted about fiscal commissions:

“The history of fiscal commissions does not exude great confidence of success or substantive outcomes. However, at a minimum, they have consistently highlighted the economic dangers to the country of rising debt and deficits and the necessary steps that policy makers should take.”

DOGE has the added benefit that it can leverage social media to engage taxpayers, increase transparency, and hold Congress accountable. As Liz Peek observes:

“Unlike past efforts to streamline government, like Ronald Reagan’s Grace Commission, which resulted in a mammoth report that went unread by Congress, DOGE’s activities will be public, posting on X and inviting public comment (and scrutiny.) That will make it impossible for Congress to ignore. “

Breaking Free from Political Gridlock

DOGE’s mission to streamline government by cutting waste and excess regulations is critical, but its success could be short-lived if we don’t aim higher. America’s economic future depends on tackling the inefficiencies in bloated entitlement programs. If DOGE could launch with BRAC-like authority, it could break free from the gravitational pull of political gridlock that has hampered entitlement reform efforts to date. Congress should establish clear goals for DOGE to not only trim Washington largesse but to also stabilize the US debt. By empowering DOGE with BRAC-like powers, Congress can ensure its recommendations are implemented. Without such bold action, DOGE risks becoming another failed commission instead of the transformative force America needs.