Elon Musk’s DOGE crashed and burned, now Zohran Mamdani has launched his own Government Efficiency agency, and the acronym is eerily similar

The New York City mayor is launching a brand new Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, Business Insider reports. And it’s hard not to notice the striking similarity to the acronym used by the federal government’s recent, and now defunct, initiative. The local effort is billed by the Mamdani administration as a way to ensure the government keeps pace with the needs of New Yorkers.

While the naming convention feels like a direct nod to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the city is positioning this as a completely different animal. The federal DOGE initiative, which was launched with plenty of fanfare during the second term of President Donald Trump, has essentially folded. Despite an executive order that originally slated the agency to run through July 2026, the unit is no longer a centralized entity.

Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor confirmed that the agency has effectively disbanded, with its functions largely absorbed by existing human resources offices. It’s a quiet end to a project that once saw Musk brandishing a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference, claiming he was there to cut through bureaucracy.

Mamdani is clearly trying to distance his new commission from DOGE’s legacy

You might remember the early days of that federal push, which included a government-wide hiring freeze and bold claims about slashing tens of billions of dollars in expenditures. However, outside financial experts often found it impossible to verify those figures because the unit didn’t provide detailed public accounting.

By the time it faded away, many of its key players had already moved on to other roles within the administration. For instance, Joe Gebbia, a co-founder of Airbnb, is now heading up the National Design Studio to focus on government website aesthetics, while other former staff members have taken positions at agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Naval Research.

Mamdani is clearly trying to distance his new commission from that specific legacy. At a press conference held on May 28, the mayor was very intentional about the distinction. “Elon Musk manipulated the fact that so many people across this country want to see a government that is more efficient,” Mamdani said. “He used that as a justification to simply slash and burn so many of the city services that Americans rely on.”

For the mayor, COGE is not about massive layoffs or contract cancellations, but rather a sincere effort to help balance the local budget while improving access to affordable housing, quality public schools, and essential social safety net programs.

The internal mechanics of the city’s approach are already in motion. Soon after taking office, the mayor appointed chief savings officers across various agencies. These individuals were tasked with identifying programs that offer the highest return for residents and proposing efficiency-related cuts. We’ve already seen some of the results of this process.

In March, the mayor noted that the Department of Sanitation plans to vacate unused office space, and the Taxi and Limousine Commission is set to cancel its Slack subscription in fiscal year 2027. While these initial savings total hundreds of thousands of dollars, the city plans to host public hearings to get more direct feedback from New Yorkers on what support they need most.

Longtime public servant Ann Cheng is stepping into the role of executive director for the commission. It’s a move that suggests the city is looking for a steady hand to guide these changes. The administration is also looking for ways to equip city agencies with better tools to run public programs effectively. It’s a different vibe from the federal approach, which was defined by a top-down, aggressive style of downsizing.

The political discourse surrounding these efficiency efforts has even drawn in high-profile figures. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos shared his thoughts on X, expressing a hope that the COGE mission will lead to lower taxes. “With some of the savings, we can zero out taxes on the bottom half of earners,” Bezos wrote. “The best way to put money in people’s pockets is not to take it out in the first place.” Notably, Bezos recently went on TV to criticize Mamdani’s approach to taxing the wealthy.

At the end of the day, Mamdani insists that COGE is just a name and that the concept of efficiency shouldn’t be a partisan issue. “We are delivering on something New Yorkers — and frankly many Americans — care about,” he said. “What we are speaking about is a sincere fulfillment of a vision that ensures that city government is operating with the same focus that a working-class New Yorker is when they’re trying to balance their bills.”