Investing.com - Members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet will look to limit the influence of staffers in the Department of Government Efficiency once Elon Musk begins to ratchet down his time spent on political activities, according to Reuters.
Musk has been the central figure of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which was created by Trump the day he began his second term in office. DOGE, as the department is commonly known, has rolled out mass layoffs of federal workers, scrapped many government contracts, and pushed to diminish some services to Americans as part of widespread cost-cutting drive.
However, Musk told investors on Tuesday that he planned to scale back his time working with DOGE to one to two days a week, and re-focus on managing his myriad companies.
The move comes as Musk’s leadership of DOGE has sparked a backlash that has begun to bleed into his business interests -- especially electric carmaker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which has faced widespread protests and vandalism at its showrooms. Slumping sales at the electric carmaker have fueled investor calls for Musk to bring his attention back to the company.
Against this backdrop, Musk told analysts in a conference call that "[t]he large slog of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place and working with the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done."
His mandate as a special government employee appears to be expiring at the end of May, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, tensions between Musk and other Trump administration officials have begun to escalate in recent weeks, Reuters said, adding that the billionaire clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at a March cabinet meeting.
Should Musk start to lower his involvement in the government, cabinet secretaries are likely to move forward with efforts to implement targeted spending cuts -- instead of broad-based reductions -- with fewer obstacles, Reuters said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The cabinet would also have more autonomy and no longer require a green light from Musk on every decision, it added.
A shake-up of leadership at DOGE will also lead to a reassessment of the roles and responsibilities of several of the young engineers Musk hired to staff the department, Reuters reported, noting that their influence may decrease.
Still, a White House spokesperson told Reuters that Musk partially withdrawing from his role at DOGE does not necessarily impact its influence.