Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized U.S. defense spending on Sunday, Dec. 1, endorsing comments from tech billionaire Elon Musk. President-elect Donald Trump has put Musk in charge of finding ways to reduce government spending.
Sanders specifically spoke out against the amount of money allocated to the U.S. military, calling for reforms in the Pentagon’s budget.
Elon Musk is right.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 1, 2024
The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.
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 is right,” Sanders said on X. “The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its seventh audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions. Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change.”
Trump appointed Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency initiative aimed at reducing wasteful spending and streamlining federal agencies.
The initiative will work alongside the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to provide outside advice on improving government spending.
Sanders isn’t the only unlikely ally of Musk when it comes to cutting government waste.
Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz also weighed in on X, saying, “The Department of Homeland Security is very necessary but has simply gotten too big and is a bureaucratic mess. It’s time to break up parts of DHS. DOGE should look at this.”
Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna shared a CNN interview on X with the caption, “When it comes to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the five primes to more competition, there are Democrats on HASC (the House Armed Services Committee) who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE.”
Musk reposted Khanna’s message with the caption “Cool!”
The Defense Department told The Hill the department is committed to improving oversight and transparency.
Musk and Ramaswamy have stated their goal is to cut $500 billion in government spending by July 4, 2026.
