Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said Monday there are Democrats who would work with the new Department of Government Efficiency on cutting "waste, fraud, and abuse" from the Defense budget.
Khanna, a member of the House Armed Services Committee [HASC], made the comments in an interview with CNN in response to a question about President-elect Donald Trump's new department to be run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
"Let me provide an area where there could be bipartisan collaboration. I mean the Defense budget, which is nearly a trillion dollars, is dominated by five primes," Khanna said, referring to the five largest defense contractors in the United States.
"There has been tremendous reporting about the waste, fraud, and abuse in that budget. The Pentagon ... has failed the last six or seven audits," Khanna said. "So if they go to say there needs to be more open competition, not the monopolization in Defense contractors, and propose recommendations, that's something that I think could be supported. If they find areas of truly wasteful spending across the government, they would get support."
Separately, Khanna tweeted "there are Democrats on HASC who will work with @elonmusk and @DOGE," to which Musk replied, "Cool!"
In announcing DOGE earlier this month, Trump said the goal is to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies — Essential to the 'Save America' Movement."
On the campaign trail with Trump, Musk said he could cut $2 trillion from the federal government.
"Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 — A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence," Trump said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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