Billionaire Elon Musk, who President Donald Trump tapped to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), defended his department's groundbreaking work during a press briefing on Tuesday.

The department has been attempting to reduce government spending by sorting through troves of data from other federal departments. DOGE's work has even led federal agencies to cut expensive subscriptions and controversial programs.

Musk claimed during the presser that his department is doing the work that the American people elected Trump and his team to do, and added that he would like to add “common sense controls” to the federal government, per The Hill.

“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk told reporters. “That’s what democracy is all about ... If money is spent badly, if your taxpayer dollars are not spent in a sensible or critical manner, then that’s not okay. Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely, on things that matter." 

When asked about specific examples of wasteful spending in the government, Musk cited instances of people in the Social Security Administration's databases who are still receiving paychecks, despite being 150 years old and "probably dead." 

The Tesla CEO also admitted that the work his department does will not be perfect, and promised to correct things if proven untrue. He has also promised to bring a level of transparency to the federal government.

“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected," Musk said. "So, nobody is going to bat a thousand. We will make mistakes and we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes."

Trump also praised the work that Musk has done so far, and claimed "we had no idea we were going to find this much" fraud and corruption in the federal government.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.