This photo posted by DOGE on Feb. 11, 2025, shows the old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, where the organization says about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month. (DOGE/X)
DOGE wrote on X that an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month.
The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes, DOGE said.
Elon Musk mentioned the limestone mine to reporters during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government," Musk said. "And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can't, nobody can retire. Doesn't that sound crazy?"
Musk said the flawed system of "carrying manila envelopes to, you know, boxes in a mine shaft" could be remedied with "practically anything else."
"That's an example, like at a high level, if you say like, how do we increase prosperity is we get people to shift from roles that are low to negative productivity to high productivity roles," he said.
In recent weeks, Democrats have largely criticized the work of Musk and DOGE to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending and trim the more than 2 million-person federal workforce.
Musk has pushed back, telling reporters Tuesday that "the people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-describes-limestone-mine-used-processing-federal-workers-retirement-papers-like-time-warp