President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, will cut excess regulation and wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies, which he argued is “essential to the ‘Save America’ movement.” So far, the initiative is not just drawing in those on the right. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) became the first Democrat to join the House-led DOGE Caucus, saying “government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue.” And Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) believes there could be “huge bipartisan cooperation,” especially on one issue.
"Well, there’s one area Elon Musk was brilliant in that he worked with President Obama and Ash Carter to have SpaceX, and that disrupted Boeing and Lockheed,” he told ABC’s Martha Raddatz. “We were getting ripped off, the American people, and putting satellites up to space, and President Obama, under his leadership, Ash Carter’s leadership, they said ‘Elon, with SpaceX, you can bid on launching these rockets.’ He had reusable rockets —"
"Okay. Go to your conversation with him,” Raddatz said. “What have you talked about?"
"We’ve talked about that, and … let’s look at what you did with SpaceX,” he said. “Why can’t we do that with other parts of the five primes (top defense contractors)? To reduce costs? I think when it comes to defense, getting better defense for our value and cutting costs, there can be huge bipartisan cooperation."
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna on his discussions with Elon Musk about the new Department of Government Efficiency: “I think when there comes to defense, getting better defense for value and cutting costs, there can be huge bipartisan cooperation.” https://t.co/QGEu8xRtpF pic.twitter.com/zkal88pP21
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 8, 2024
Last month, Musk criticized the U.S.’s “pretty gigantic” defense budget. “It’s a trillion dollars,” he said. “The interest we owe on the debt is now higher than the defense budget. This is not sustainable."
