Ultra-liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders posted to X on Sunday that he supports the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — providing it takes a hard look at the Pentagon’s budget.
“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 83-year-old Vermont senator posted 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,” Sanders added.
Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will serve as the co-heads of DOGE, which plans to make recommendations on government waste cutbacks until it concludes its work by July 4, 2026.
DOGE is an outside organization that will coordinate with the White House and Office of Management and Budget to discover and eliminate waste.
Sanders was among the bi-partisan legislators appalled when the Department of Defense failed its seventh independent audit in a row. The DoD has a budget of $824.3 billion for the 2024 fiscal year.
Mike McCord, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer, has stated that the department is working toward a “clean” audit. But that will likely take several more years.
Several comments on Sanders’ X account supported his take.
Musk replied to Sanders’ post with several American flag emojis.
“Sensible spending is not a partisan issue. The general public supports @DOGE holding government accountable to spend taxpayer money more wisely,” Musk’s America super PAC wrote in response.
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz had a gleeful response.
“Welcome home, Bernie,” Gaetz wrote.
Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, added on X, “Glad you realized Elon Musk is not the problem.
“The problem is the federal government which has wasted and lost trillions of dollars of taxpayer money,”
