Ramaswamy on ‘Seismic’ Plan to Eliminate Federal Agencies: ‘A Quantum Leap in Reviving the Ideals of the American Revolution’

Biotech entrepreneur and presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy wants to shut down five federal agencies if he is elected to the Oval Office in 2024.

To do so, he would need to bypass Congress and utilize his executive powers. Ramaswamy announced the "seismic" plan earlier on the campaign trail and in a phone call with Semfor on Tuesday, he detailed it even further.

"Do you want incremental reform?" Ramaswamy says he plans to ask voters, according to Semafor. "Or do you want a quantum leap in reviving the ideals of the American Revolution?"

The agencies Ramaswamy's proposal would shut down include the FBI, ATF, U.S. Department of Education, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services. Instead of replacing them, the employees from the defunct agencies would be "reassigned."

For example, Ramaswamy told Semafor that "15,000 of the 35,000 FBI employees" could be relocated to the U.S. Marshals, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the DEA.

The plan to reduce or completely get rid of these federal agencies could face extreme pushback from Congress, but he says, as president, he would be able to act without them.

"We’ll take it to the Supreme Court, and I think we’ll win 6-3," he told Semafor, adding that he’s "taken detailed advice from multiple legal academics who are at the bleeding edge of this."