 "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (Left), Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Right). File Image / AP")
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is right in his criticism of American defence spending. The senator, who aligns with the Democrats, slammed US President Joe Biden’s administration’s high defence spending. Sanders took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his take on the matter.
“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,” the progressive senator said in his post. “Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defence budget full of waste and fraud. That must change,” he added.
Last month, US President-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new and temporary Department of Government Efficiency, popularly known as (DOGE). The body was formed to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures” and restructure federal agencies.
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During an interview with CNN on Monday, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna suggested that his party could work with Musk’s DOGE to reduce the defence spending. The California Democrat went on to slam the government over “waste, fraud and abuse” of the defence budget.
Just like Bernie, he also mentioned how the Department of Defence “has failed the last six or seven audits.” Khanna eventually shared the clip on his X account. “When it comes to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the 5 primes to more competition, there are Democrats on [House Armed Services Committee] who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE,” Khanna said in the post.
Musk agreed with the lawmaker’s assertion and replied “Cool” to Khanna’s post. While appointing Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE, Trump said that the department would “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” and work alongside the White House Office of Management and Budget.
“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time," the president-elect added. The White House and the Department of Defence are yet to comment on the matter.