Billionaire Elon Musk's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is attracting attention from an unlikely corner of the political spectrum: the left.
Progressives are unlikely to support much of what Musk and his partner, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are aiming to do with DOGE, which is to cut about $2 trillion from the federal government, and this may include programs important to Americans.
However, Musk has criticized the Pentagon's wasteful spending and over-budget programs led by defense contractors, and the Pentagon is working with progressive lawmakers who have long advocated cutting the defense budget, which approaches $1 trillion a year. There is a possibility that
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made headlines when he said Musk is “right” about defense spending because the Pentagon is “losing billions of dollars in funding.”
“Last year, only 13 senators voted against the military-industrial complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That has to change.” Sanders wrote on social platform X.
Other progressive lawmakers also support the possibility of working with DOGE on the Pentagon's budget.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a progressive lawmaker who has long pushed for cuts to the Pentagon's budget, said it's unclear whether DOGE is a “complete joke” or “a toy” for Mr. Musk. said.
“Elon Musk is a bit more of a flamboyant figure than an expert on government finance,” he said. “But if you actually give them some resources and make a responsible effort and, like I said, seek bipartisan input, then I'm a better person to work with them and make things happen.” Rather than trying to move forward, we are more aggressive, especially when it comes to the defense budget. ”
Progressive policy analysts also discount the new DOGE commission, but say they welcome substantial cuts.
Stephen Semler, a nonresident senior fellow at the progressive think tank Center for International Policy, said he is approaching DOGE with “a lot of scrutiny but optimism.”
“If we have something in common, let’s play together,” he said. “But I think we need more dialogue with Mr. Musk at the helm, creating a groundswell of public support, and encouraging Mr. Musk and DOGE to focus on waste in the Pentagon.”
DOGE will serve as an advisory board under President-elect Trump, who increased the defense budget during his first term.
But Musk, who poured $250 million into supporting the Trump campaign, appears to have the president-elect's ear, at least on some decisions. Whether he is willing to tighten the Pentagon's budget is an open question.
Phyllis Bennis, program director at the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies, said President Trump is “on five sides” and is pushing for what she calls “exorbitant” cuts to the Pentagon's budget. He said it was unclear whether the president would support it.
“I have no discernment, and I certainly have no idea how Elon Musk will respond to his proposals to reduce the military budget,” she said. “surely [Trump] He loves big companies that make a lot of money, and that's exactly what military manufacturers represent. ”
Bennis said he was skeptical that DOGE would spark any serious efforts to cut the Pentagon's budget, including reducing the 750 military bases the U.S. operates around the world. He said the focus should be on strategies such as cutting the budget, even though China, its biggest rival, has only four bases.
“I don’t really understand that. [Musk] “We're going to look at military spending, which is nearly a trillion dollars, and how it distorts national spending,” she said. “It would be good if he did that.”
Most of the more than $6 trillion federal budget goes to mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare, but defense spending is the next largest portion of funding and accounts for the bulk of discretionary spending. . If Musk wants to make significant cuts, he will likely need to target one of these areas.
in Wall Street Journal editorial Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy said last month they would cut the federal workforce and target federal spending that is “unauthorized” by Congress, such as grants to international organizations and progressive groups.
They also cited procurement processes and federal contracts that “went unexamined for years,” and pointed out that the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive audits this year, indicating that “DOD leadership has “This suggests that there is little understanding of how the annual budget is exceeded.” 800 billion dollars will be spent. ”
But Musk has often been critical of what he sees as wasteful spending at the Pentagon.
“Our defense budget is pretty huge. It's $1 trillion,” he said. Said it at the event last month. “The interest on the debt we owe is now higher than the defense budget. This is not sustainable.”
And Mr. Musk posted about X raised concerns about The F-35 fighter program has long been under intense scrutiny due to its high cost, production delays and unreliability.
On Capitol Hill, some Democrats saw the comments as a potential sign that Musk is serious about defense cuts.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement that he welcomes “genuine efforts to reduce a bloated and wasteful defense budget that only enriches defense contractors and does not keep Americans safe.” .
“Defense contractors are defrauding American taxpayers,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a progressive on the House Armed Services Committee.
“We should work with DOGE to invest in technology that curbs waste and fraud, promotes competition, and strengthens national security,” Khanna said in a statement.
DOGE is only an advisory body, and even if President Trump supports defense cuts, Congress would still have to approve them.
A majority of Congress continues to support increased defense spending, including incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), who believes that It calls for “generational” investment in defense to address security. environment.
Peter Juhl, director of national security at the Center-Left think tank Progressive Policy Institute, agreed that the Pentagon could become more efficient, but said the defense budget should be reduced given the dangerous global situation. said that the amount should be increased.
“At this point, it’s difficult to determine where that can be done. [proposing] It's a huge layoff.” “You might be able to shave off a little bit of the top line, but it's not going to save you this much.”
On Capitol Hill, Juhl said there was a growing “intent” to “maintain the status quo or go further” and called expectations for defense cuts “wishful thinking by progressives.”
But some Republicans are leaving the door open to defense cuts, including veteran Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who leads the new DOGE caucus in the Senate.
“Senator Ernst believes it is time to declare war on wasteful spending throughout the federal government, including the Department of Defense. “We acknowledge that we have bureaucratic costs,” a spokesperson for the senator said.
Pocan said there is room on Capitol Hill to win over some of his colleagues.
“Let the talkative people get on the right track. If they really want to cut spending and have a more efficient, leaner government, then they need clear and uncontroversial Why don’t we care about something that is efficient?”
Musk and Ramaswamy met with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss DOGE and potential federal cuts, but the meeting reportedly did not work out any details.
Beyond the F-35 program, progressives have long decried a series of wasteful Pentagon initiatives like the littoral combat ship. The Littoral Combat Ship is a 22-year-old project aimed at deploying small warships closer to the coast. The Navy has spent billions of dollars on the program just to retire some ships just a few years after they were built, and now it is moving away from purchasing more ships.
The United States is also spending more than $1 trillion over several years to modernize its nuclear triad of bombers, submarines, and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the last of which has suffered from increasing costs and irrelevance. has been criticized.
And defense contractors, from which more than half of the defense budget goes, have long been accused of overcharging the Pentagon for basic services like soap dispensers (Boeing once overcharged ) almost 8,000 percent increase.
Gabe Murphy, a policy analyst with the nonpartisan federal budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said there is “no shortage” of opportunities if DOGE wants to make cuts, adding that there is a list the committee could use. He explained that he was creating it.
Murphy pointed to excess base capacity as one area the Pentagon should cut. 19% increase in staffing On military bases more than necessary.
“We hope this will lead to serious, thoughtful and targeted cuts,” Murphy said. “Reducing wasteful and inefficient spending practices will ultimately strengthen our national security. [which] It is not achieved by a specific amount of money. It is achieved through sound strategy. and to have a sound strategy [is] By operating in a budget-based manner. ”
