Policy counsel Tara Pincock calls for stricter enforcement to ensure that executives face consequences, deterring price-fixing in the future.

Remember when Bill Clinton in 1996 declared that the era of big government was over? Well, it’s back and bigger than ever. While neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump is talking about the need to shrink Washington, Elon Musk to his credit is, and it sure needs shrinking.

The left is attacking Mr. Musk, who has volunteered to run a government efficiency commission if Mr. Trump wins. He’s floated the idea that he could cut federal spending by $2 trillion. That’s impossible without the entitlement reform that Mr. Trump opposes. But Mr. Musk’s reform ambition is much needed in government.

The nearby chart shows the growth in the federal bureaucracy over time. After rising modestly in the first Trump years, federal employment spiked in 2020 owing to temporary workers hired as part of the decennial Census survey. The federal workforce declined in 2021 but remained above pre-pandemic levels, and it has exploded in the Biden era.

Since January 2021, the federal workforce has increased by about 120,800 employees. Washington has added as many workers in the last two years as during the prior 13. One reason is Veterans Affairs hospitals, which have staffed up to treat aging veterans. But employment has ballooned across nearly the entire government, as quarterly data from the Office of Personnel Management show.

Between December 2020 and March 2024 (the latest data), employment has increased sharply at the Environmental Protection Agency (9.4%), Agriculture Department (9.6%), Department of Housing and Urban Development (10.7%), Internal Revenue Service (14%), Energy Department (14.8%), State Department (18.4%) and Health and Human Services (18.7%).

Independent agencies have also mushroomed, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (9.8%), Securities and Exchange Commission (11.1%) and Federal Trade Commission (11.6%). Even the White House Council of Economic Advisers has increased by a third during the Biden Presidency, not that economic policy has improved. A rare Biden-era exception is Defense and the armed forces (-1.2%), despite an increasingly dangerous world.

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