(Headline USA) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., offered his support this week to tech billionaire Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump on their planned new Department of Government Efficiency, arguing government defense spending in particular is in need of reform.
“Elon Musk is right. The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions,” Sanders wrote on X. “Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change.”
🇺🇸🇺🇸
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2024
Trump announced last month that Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will be co-leading DOGE, which will work with the executive branch to identify ways to cut back the bureaucracy.
Though Musk and Ramaswamy have not unveiled their plan to address the Defense Department’s bloated spending, a recent report proves it will need to be on the agenda.
According to the Pentagon’s chief financial officer, Mike McCord, the Defense Department failed its seventh independent audit in a row and cannot account for how it spent the $824.3 billion it received in government funding for the 2024 fiscal year.
McCord claimed no significant fraud was uncovered, but admitted a clean audit likely will not be possible for several more years.
Sanders isn’t the only Democrat who took issue with this.
“When it comes to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the 5 primes to more competition, there are Democrats on [the House Armed Services Committee] who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE,” progressive Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., wrote on X last week.
When it comes to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the 5 primes to more competition, there are Democrats on HASC who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE. pic.twitter.com/OP4xXBH7tE
— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) November 25, 2024
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., also urged Musk and Ramaswamy to take a harder look at the Department of Homeland Security.
“The Dept. of Homeland Security is very necessary but has simply gotten too big & is a bureaucratic mess,” Moskowitz wrote on X. “It’s time to break up parts of DHS. Let’s start by removing @SecretService and @fema & have them report directly to WH.”
The Dept. of Homeland Security is very necessary but has simply gotten too big & is a bureaucratic mess. It’s time to break up parts of DHS. Let’s start by removing @SecretService and @fema & have them report directly to WH.#DOGE should look at this @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy pic.twitter.com/T8k4Sl3NYo
— Congressman Jared Moskowitz (@RepMoskowitz) November 19, 2024
