Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Sunday that he agreed with Elon Musk about reining in some government spending, particularly regarding Defense Department spending.

Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy have been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to find and eliminate spending deemed unnecessary.

The pair will run the advisory committee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) once Trump takes office next month.

On his X page on Sunday, Sanders offered support for Musk – a billionaire who he has criticized in the past.

“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,” he wrote. “Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That must change.”

In March 2021, Sanders took to his page to rip Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, describing their combined net worth as “immoral.”

“We are in a moment in American history where two guys — Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — own more wealth than the bottom 40% of people in this country,” Sanders tweeted. “That level of greed and inequality is not only immoral. It is unsustainable.”

Three days later, after Musk defended his personal wealth and said he intended to use it for the betterment of humanity, Sanders replied, “Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don’t go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare. The level of inequality in America is obscene and a threat to our democracy.”

Last month, Musk tweeted he would be transparent about what DOGE would slash form the federal budget and why:

The post ‘Elon Musk is Right’: Bernie Sanders Lauds DOGE Chief’s Plan to Drastically Slash the Pentagon’s Budget first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/N42pijQ