Investing.com — The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency will scrutinize billions in government loans to a joint venture of Stellantis and Rivian, Vivek Ramaswamy said Monday evening.
Ramaswamy, who will lead the department along with Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO Elon Musk, said President Joe Biden’s midnight spending is illegal and should be repealed. He added that DOGE will scrutinize the Biden administration’s recent spending after Donald Trump took office in January.
Specifically, DOGE will explore a $7.5 billion loan from the Department of Energy to StarPlus Energy, a joint venture between Samsung (KS:) and Stellantis NV (NYSE:) that plans to build electric vehicle batteries through two factories in Indiana, Ramaswamy said in a social media post.
The agency will also investigate a recently announced $6.6 billion loan to the EV maker Rivian automotive industry Inc (NASDAQ:) to help complete an upcoming plant in Georgia.
Both loans were part of the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which aimed to promote electric vehicles and clean energy technologies. Tesla had also received a loan under the program in 2010.
Trump announced the creation of DOGE as an extra-governmental agency that will advise Congress on spending and potentially streamline government agencies. Musk claimed the agency can cut spending by $2 trillion.
But analysts questioned how many changes the agency will be able to make, given that major cuts in government spending still require approval from Congress, where Republicans have a slim majority.
