There are already some signals about which government expenses could be on the chopping block for Elon Musk's DOGE.

A former USDS employee called the repurposing of the Digital Service into DOGE an “A+ bureaucratic jiujitsu move.” It will give Musk and his associates access to unclassified data in every government agency.

Musk isn’t introducing a novel idea. For years, people have advocated eliminating the penny, as pennies are rarely spent as change. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, more consumers are shopping online or avoiding physical currency altogether .

A lawsuit was filed against Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new nongovernmental entity as soon as Donald Trump was officially president.

I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting 1 [trillion],” Musk said in a January interview.

The savings from eliminating the cent might seem like small change, but every penny counts in dealing with the U.S. fiscal deficit.