Can Trump Achieve What Bill Clinton’s “Reinventing Government” Did?

Denver: A new administration has taken over Washington, promising to overhaul the federal government by leveraging corporate expertise and modern technology to enhance efficiency.

It has offered buyouts to millions of federal employees and cut costs to balance the budget.

While this might sound like the drastic cost-cutting measures led by billionaire Elon Musk under President Donald Trump, the most significant effort to reform the federal government in modern history actually took place 30 years ago under a Democratic administration. This initiative was “Reinventing Government,” launched by then-President Bill Clinton and led by his vice president, Al Gore.

Musk has attempted to draw parallels between his current efforts and the Clinton-era initiative. “What @DOGE is doing is similar to Clinton/Gore Dem policies of the 1990s,” he posted on his social media platform X, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that is spearheading the cost-cutting measures.

However, those who were involved in or closely observed Reinventing Government argue that it was vastly different from Musk’s current strategy. Unlike Musk’s abrupt and chaotic approach, Clinton’s initiative was backed by bipartisan congressional legislation, carefully planned over several years, and actively involved federal employees in rethinking their roles.

Planned Reform vs. Abrupt Cuts

“There was a tremendous effort put into understanding what should happen and what should change,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, which focuses on improving the federal workforce. “What is happening now is actually taking us backwards.”

As part of Musk’s cost-cutting initiative, the Trump administration has fired thousands of federal workers without notice, introduced a ‘deferred resignation’ program without congressional approval, and significantly downsized agencies—sometimes prompting judicial intervention. Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and the world’s richest person, has vowed to save trillions in taxpayer dollars through aggressive budget cuts.

However, those familiar with Clinton’s Reinventing Government program believe it provides valuable lessons on both how to restructure the federal bureaucracy and the realistic financial savings such efforts can generate.

A Different Approach to Reform

“We did it without a constitutional crisis,” said Elaine Kamarck, who led Reinventing Government as a senior adviser to Gore in the 1990s. “Unlike these people, we didn’t believe there were vast trillions in efficiencies. … Their mandate is only to cut. Ours was: Work better, cost less.“

The initiative grew into a 400-person team recruited from existing government employees. Their mission was to improve efficiency and enhance customer service, introducing private sector-inspired performance metrics for federal workers.

Additionally, Reinventing Government played a pivotal role in encouraging the workforce to adopt the internet—a revolutionary technology at the time. Several modern governmental web services, including electronic tax filing, originated from this initiative.

To symbolize the fight against government waste, Gore famously smashed an ashtray with a hammer on David Letterman’s late-night show. The government even created the “Hammer Awards” to recognize employees who identified ways to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency, recalled Don Kettl, an emeritus professor of public policy at the University of Maryland.

“Empowering employees and seeing them as part of the solution was a major focus,” Kettl said. “The key difference is that the Trump administration views federal employees as the problem, while the Clinton administration saw them as the solution.”