Vance Defends Overhaul But Acknowledges Musk’s ‘Mistakes’ In Federal Job Purge

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – Vice President JD Vance admitted that Elon Musk has made missteps in his sweeping cuts to the federal workforce under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though he maintained that reform was necessary.

“Elon himself has said that sometimes you do something, you make a mistake, and then you undo the mistake,” Vance told NBC News on March 14. “I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes.” He acknowledged that “there are a lot of good people who work in the government—a lot of people who are doing a very good job.”

Vance did not specify which mistakes Musk had made or how they had been addressed. His remarks struck a softer tone compared to Musk, who has repeatedly claimed—without offering concrete evidence—that widespread fraud and waste justify the mass terminations. The Daily Beast previously reported that the DOGE website itself has contained multiple errors, including exaggerated financial figures misrepresenting billions instead of millions.

Pressed about Musk’s claims of rampant inefficiency, Vance expressed uncertainty about the scale of the issue. “I think some people clearly are collecting a check and not doing a job,” he told NBC. “Now, how many people is that? I don’t know, in a 3 million-strong federal workforce, whether it’s a few thousand or much larger than that.”

His remarks also appeared to contrast with President Donald Trump’s harsher assessment of government workers last week. Trump had claimed that “many don’t work at all” and that “many of them never show up to work,” though he provided no supporting evidence.

Despite his more tempered approach, Vance aligned himself with Musk and Trump’s broader push to reduce the federal workforce. “However big the problem is, it is a problem when people are living off the generosity of the American taxpayer in a civil service job and not doing the people’s business. That doesn’t distract or detract from the fact that you do have a lot of great civil servants who are doing important work.”

Also Read:- PM Modi Joins Truth Social, Trump Reacts