New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani has already met twice with President Donald Trump at the White House.
Perhaps the mayor took from those meetings a few ideas that look Trumpian, at least on the surface.
Mamdani on Thursday announced the creation of COGE, the Commission on Government Efficiency, the name of which mimics DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency — a cost-cutting initiative with which Trump, at the beginning of his second administration, entrusted X owner Elon Musk, then a staunch political ally of the president.
“This morning we are introducing COGE — the Commission on Government Efficiency,” Mamdani wrote. ”This Commission will find ways for our city to work smarter, faster, and more effectively for working people. New Yorkers deserve a city government as careful with their money as they are.”
This morning we are introducing COGE — the Commission on Government Efficiency.⁰⁰This Commission will find ways for our city to work smarter, faster, and more effectively for working people. ⁰⁰New Yorkers deserve a city government as careful with their money as they are.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 28, 2026
According to Politico, Mamdani’s COGE will replace a commission created by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Widely viewed as hostile to Mamdani’s administration, the Adams commission — formed on Dec. 31, 2025, the final day of Adams’s term — continued its work until Wednesday, when Mamdani, acting on new powers given to him last week by the state legislature, officially terminated it.
Adams called his panel the Charter Revision Commission, which provides important insight into how Mamdani’s new commission will operate.
Indeed, although the names and acronyms sound similar, COGE will not work as DOGE did.
For instance, DOGE sought sweeping reductions in federal spending and massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy. It did not, however, seek to alter the U.S. Constitution.
By contrast, according to CBS News, COGE will review the New York City Charter and recommend potential amendments.
“For too long, bureaucracy has stood in the way of delivering the housing, transit, child care and public services our city needs. The Commission on Government Efficiency will take a hard look at how city government functions and identify the reforms we need to deliver faster, smarter and more effectively for working people,” Mamdani said. “Restoring faith in government starts with proving government can actually deliver.”
In practice, of course, that does not necessarily mean shrinking government.
“City agencies are charged with solving some of the most complex challenges facing New Yorkers, and yet too often they are hamstrung by outdated constraints and unnecessary requirements,” commission member Ann Cheng said. “Modernizing the charter is an opportunity to transform how city government does its job.”
In other words, whereas libertarians and fiscal conservatives think in terms of freeing individuals and businesses from government oversight, progressives — since the days of Woodrow Wilson — have thought primarily about freeing government from “outdated constraints” imposed by constitutions or city charters.
Mamdani, who met with Trump at the White House in November and again in February, did not mention the president.
At the beginning of his second administration, Trump tasked Musk with overseeing DOGE.
Musk, however, had a very public falling out with the president over the administration’s perceived betrayal of DOGE’s cost-cutting principles in pushing for, and eventually securing passage of, the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Since then, Musk has reconciled with Trump and even quietly acted to advance the administration’s agenda.
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