Can Elon Musk Carry on Working for DOGE? What We Know

Newsweek

23-04-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Elon Musk has said that he intends to continue his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but will scale back his commitments to dedicate more time and energy to his business ventures.
"I think starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly," Musk said during a conference call on Tuesday to discuss Tesla's first-quarter earnings.
"I'll have to continue doing it for, I think, probably the remainder of the President's term, just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back, which [it] will do if it has the chance," Musk added. "So, I think I'll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the President would like me to do so and as long as it is useful."
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment on Musk's future work within government.
Why It Matters
Aside from the work of DOGE itself—which has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups—Musk's involvement in the government has drawn scrutiny due to the potential conflicts created by his concurrent business interests.
Musk's involvement with DOGE and his association with Trump has also been credited with contributing to his company's declining stock price and sluggish global sales in recent months, prompting major investors to call for him to either relinquish his government role or step down as CEO of Tesla.
What To Know
Musk has served as the figurehead for DOGE since its establishment on January 20, championing the advisory body's attempts to eliminate what it perceives as waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
As confirmed by the White House in February, Musk's has been working within the government as a "special government employee," or SGE, a type of appointment conceived by Congress in 1962, entitling the executive or legislative branch to retain individuals "with or without compensation" to serve specific, ordinarily consultative roles on a temporary basis.
Per Title 18, Section 202 of the U.S. Code, SGEs are permitted to perform their duties within government "for a period not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days." The U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) states that any work performed beyond basic "administrative matters" is counted as a full workday.
Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump hosts a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 24, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump hosts a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 24, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Depending on how much time Musk has devoted to DOGE since the inauguration—whether working every single day or only occasionally—he may have already used over 90 of the allowed 130 days.
Assuming he has spent and will continue to devote time each day toward DOGE, Musk would legally have to relinquish his SGE status by the end of May. However, if his involvement has been limited to weekdays, the 130-day limit would in theory allow him to remain in the role until late July.
With approximately 36 weeks remaining in 2025, if Musk follows through on his plan to scale back his DOGE involvements to "a day or two per week," as promised in Tuesday's earnings call, his total time with the department could range from around 100 days—assuming he has so far worked only weekdays—to as many as 165 if he has been involved in DOGE-related activities daily.
Even if Musk were to exceed the 130-day limit, he could potentially maintain his SGE status, as the 130-day threshold is regarded as a "good faith estimate" under the FLRA's ethics guidelines.
Newsweek has reached out to the FLRA via email for comment.
Past 2025, however, reducing his work with DOGE to a couple of days per week would fall well within the 130-day-per-year limit, likely allowing him to serve as an SGE for the "remainder of the President's term."
According to federal employment law expert Debra D'Agostino, there are precedents for SGEs exceeding the 130-day limit.
D'Agostino pointed to a legal advisory issued by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) last year, which gave the example of an SGE working 140 days over a 365-day period. The OGE stated that the individual could be redesignated as an SGE the following year if the hiring agency "concludes that the circumstances leading to the additional ten days were unique and unlikely to recur."
"So, while there is some premise for a situation where the 130 days was exceeded, it isn't credible that any time Musk spends beyond the 130 days are 'unique and unlikely to recur,'" D'Agostino said, "as the administration seems aware of the 130 days limit on the one hand and yet is openly disregarding any confines on Musk's tenure on the other."
Elon Musk attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Elon Musk attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.The White House has offered conflicting views on how long Elon Musk will remain in his DOGE role. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in response to an early April report of Musk's impending departure, said that both Musk and Trump agreed that the Tesla CEO "will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete."
President Trump, however, has said that he intends to keep Musk on "as long as I can."
In late March, Musk told Fox News host Bret Baier that DOGE would have "accomplished most of the work" to achieve its hoped-for, $1 trillion reduction in the federal deficit within the 130-days timeframe, without specifying whether he would stay on beyond this point.
What People Are Saying
Debra D'Agostino, federal employment law expert and Founding Partner at The Federal Practice Group, told Newsweek: "More critically than the timeframe permitted, an SGE serving for more than 60 days in a calendar year is required to file a public financial disclosure report, and it does not seem that Musk has done so. There were murmurs that Musk would be filing a 'confidential' financial disclosure report, but a confidential report is only permissible where the SGE serves for less than 60 days, and regardless, there is still no evidence that Musk filed anything. The reason this is so important is that the criminal conflict of interest laws that apply to government officials also apply to SGEs."
James Sample, professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, told Newsweek: "From the start of the Elon Musk and DOGE saga, his status as a special government employee has been, at best, a function of a wink and a nod. By every legal measure, the scope and import of his governmental authority made him, in the eyes of the law, an 'officer of the United States' and a 'principal' one at that. Accordingly, he should have been subject to Senate confirmation."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, via X in early April, said: "Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete."
Elon Musk, during Tesla's earnings call on Tuesday, said: "There's been some blowback for the time that I've been spending in government with the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. I think the work that we're doing there is actually very important for trying to sprain in the insane deficit that is leading our country, the United States, to destruction. And the DOGE team has made a lot of progress in addressing waste and fraud."
He later added: "I do think [the] large slug of work necessary to get the DOGE team in place and working in the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done... But starting next month, I'll be allocating probably more of my time to Tesla and now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done."
What Happens Next?
With pressure coming from both administration critics and Tesla investors over his dual roles in the private and public sectors—and with Musk potentially nearing the legal time limit for unofficial government employees—both he and the White House will likely face growing calls for clarity on his future role within DOGE.