Benzinga - News Dogecoin surged nearly 20% on Tuesday night following President-elect Donald Trump's announcement of the new Department of Government Efficiency, abbreviated DOGE. Led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the department aims to cut government bureaucracy and waste. Their mandate includes cuttin… Facebook Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Tesla, SpaceX and X didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday about whether Musk would recuse himself. The Trump transition team also didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. However it is structured, Musk's ideas are expected to have an influence. A Tesla Cybertruck passes as the sun sets behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship on Oct. 12 in Boca Chica, Texas. Eric Gay, Associated Press Tesla, the electric vehicle company that made Musk the world’s wealthiest person, has had repeated skirmishes with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates vehicle safety. So any cuts to NHTSA funding or staffing could help Tesla. The agency has forced Tesla to do recalls it didn’t want, and it has opened investigations of Tesla vehicles, some of which raised questions about Musk’s claims that Tesla is close to deploying autonomous vehicles without human drivers. Auto safety advocates are worried that a Department of Government Efficiency co-chaired by Musk could propose draconian cuts at NHTSA. “That could be incredibly problematic because that would impact every rule-making from all of the agencies that currently oversee companies that Musk owns,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, a watchdog group. If implemented, Musk’s plan for efficiency at NHTSA could mirror what he did when he took over Twitter — draconian staff cuts, said Missy Cummings, director of the autonomy and robotics center at George Mason University and a former safety adviser to NHTSA. While Cummings concedes there is room for much of the federal government to become more efficient, she said that NHTSA is already understaffed and she predicted that Musk would try to slow or stop NHTSA investigations or handicap the agency so it would have trouble enforcing regulations. Launching test flights out of South Texas, SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is how NASA intends to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than a half-century. NASA has awarded more than $4 billion to SpaceX for the first two human moon landings coming up later this decade under the Artemis program. Musk has been at odds with the Federal Aviation Administration for slowing Starship over what he contends is excessive bureaucracy. SpaceX also has racked up multiple contracts with NASA over the past decade for launching supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station. The contracts for crew flights alone from 2020 through 2030 total $5 billion. More recently, in June, NASA awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to provide the vehicle for deorbiting the International Space Station at the end of its lifetime in early 2031, directing it to a fiery re-entry over the Pacific. The social media platform X is another Musk company that has drawn scrutiny from federal regulators. The Federal Trade Commission has probed Musk’s handling of sensitive consumer data after he took control of the company in 2022 but has not brought enforcement action. The SEC has an ongoing investigation of Musk’s purchase of the social media company. Musk has been forceful with his political views on the platform, changing its rules, content moderation systems and algorithms to conform with his world view. After Musk endorsed Trump following an attempt on the former president’s life last summer, the platform has transformed into a megaphone for Trump’s campaign, offering an unprecedented level of free advertising that is all but impossible to calculate the value of. Photos: Elon Musk through the years FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2000 file photo, PayPal Chief Executive Officer Peter Thiel, left, and founder Elon Musk, right, pose with the PayPal logo at corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) AP file FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2008 file photo, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk stands in front a Tesla sports car at a Tesla showroom in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file) AP file FILE - In this March 26, 2009 file photo, Tesla Motors CEO, Chairman and Product Architect Elon Musk speaks at the unveiling of the Tesla Model S all-electric 5-door sedan, in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, March 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) AP file In this July 21, 2009 photo, shows Tesla CEO Elon Musk talking about the lawsuit at Tesla headquarters in San Carlos, Calif., Tuesday, July 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) AP file In this Tuesday, July 21, 2009 photo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk poses at Tesla headquarters in San Carlos, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) AP file President Barack Obama walks to look at the Flacon 9 launch vehicle with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at Kennedy Space Center Thursday, April 15, 2010.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) AP file Calif. Gov., Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, left, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, center, at Tesla headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday, May 20, 2010. Tesla and Toyota officials announce partnership. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) AP file Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, poses with a Tesla car in front of Nasdaq following the electric automaker’s initial public offering, Tuesday, June, 29, 2010, in New York. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker "TSLA." (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) AP file Elon Musk, center, CEO of Tesla Motors, raises his hand at the Nasdaq opening bell to celebrate the electric automaker’s initial public offering, Tuesday, June, 29, 2010 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) AP file Elon Musk, co-founder, chief executive and product architect of Tesla Motors, poses at the premiere of the documentary film "Revenge of the Electric Car," Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, at Tesla Motors in Los Angeles. The film is director Chris Paine's follow-up to his 2006 documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) AP file SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk walks in a procession after delivering the commencement speech for Caltech graduates in Pasadena, Calif. Friday, June 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) AP file SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gives the opening keynote at the SXSW Interactive Festival on Saturday, March 9, 2013 in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett) AP file FILE - In this May 29, 2014 file photo, Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, introduces the SpaceX Dragon V2 spaceship at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) AP file Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., introduces the Model X car at the company's headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015, in Fremont, Calif. Musk said the Model X sets a new bar for automotive engineering, with unique features like rear falcon-wing doors, which open upward, and a driver's door that opens on approach and closes itself when the driver is inside. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) AP file Elon Musk, CEO & Chief Product Architect of Tesla Moters, attends the premiere of "Racing Extinction" during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP) AP file SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. In a receptive audience full of space buffs, Musk said he envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to Mars, 'Battlestar Galactica' style. He calls it the Mars Colonial fleet, and he says it could become reality within a century. Musk's goal is to establish a full-fledged city on Mars and thereby make humans a multi-planetary species. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz) AP file President Donald Trump talks with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, center, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon during a meeting with business leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) AP file Grimes, left, and Elon Musk attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition on Monday, May 7, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) AP file SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk speaks after announcing Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the first private passenger on a trip around the moon, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Hawthorne, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) AP file Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Boring Co. Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Musk has unveiled his underground transportation tunnel, allowing invited guests to take some of the first rides ever on the tech entrepreneur's solution to "soul-destroying traffic." (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo via AP) AP file Tesla CEO Elon Musk jokingly motions to kick before introducing the Model Y at Tesla's design studio Thursday, March 14, 2019, in Hawthorne, Calif. The Model Y may be Tesla's most important product yet as it attempts to expand into the mainstream and generate enough cash to repay massive debts that threaten to topple the Palo Alto, Calif., company. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) AP file NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, talks with SpaceX chief engineer Elon Musk, second from left, and NASA astronauts crew Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, right, in front of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, about the progress to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station, from American soil, as part of the agency's commercial crew program at SpaceX headquarters, in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo) AP file Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces the Cybertruck at Tesla's design studio Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in Hawthorne, Calif. Musk is taking on the workhorse heavy pickup truck market with his latest electric vehicle. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) AP file Elon Musk, founder, CEO, and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX speaks during a news conference after a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket test flight to demonstrate the capsule's emergency escape system at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raoux) AP file Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks during a round table discussion with President Donald Trump at Kennedy Space Center, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) AP file Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk jumps in the air as people applaud during an event at the Vehicle Assembly Building on Saturday, May 23, 2020, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The event occurred after a rocket ship designed and built by SpaceX lifted off on Saturday with two Americans on a history-making flight to the International Space Station. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine looks on at left. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) AP file SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool via AP) AP file Elon Musk walks from the justice center in Wilmington, Del., Monday, July 12, 2021. Musk took to a witness stand Monday to defend his company's 2016 acquisition of a troubled company called SolarCity against a shareholder lawsuit that claims he's to blame for a deal that was rife with conflicts of interest and never delivered the profits he had promised. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) AP file Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. The first European factory in Gruenheide, designed for 500,000 vehicles per year, is an important pillar of Tesla's future strategy. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via AP) AP file Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, speaks during the Global Citizen Awards dinner, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Michelle Farsi) Michelle Farsi Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Matt Rourke Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, right, and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend a campaign event with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Alex Brandon FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) Julia Demaree Nikhinson FILE - Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Evan Vucci Elon Musk talks with a child as he speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Matt Rourke Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Evan Vucci