Democratic lawmaker open to 'bipartisan cooperation' in Elon Musk's DOGE plans
California Rep. Ro Khanna discussed his openness on Sunday to work with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Republicans to make the government run more efficiently.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., insisted on Sunday there can be "bipartisan cooperation" to root out government inefficiency with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
ABC’s "This Week" host Martha Raddatz asked the Democratic lawmaker about recent discussions with Musk over President-elect Donald Trump’s push to cut government spending.
Although it remains a largely a Republican endeavor, Khanna was optimistic about working with Musk to address wasteful spending.
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"Well, there’s one area. Elon Musk was brilliant in that he worked with President Obama and Ash Carter to have Space X and that disrupted Boeing and Lockheed. 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 Space X, you can bid on launching these rockets. He had reusable rockets that—" Khanna said.
"Now go to your conversation with him," Raddatz interrupted.
He continued, "Well, we’ve talked about that. And I made the case to him that Tesla and SpaceX have been funded by the Obama government and let’s have a role for government. But let’s look at what you did with Space X. Why can’t we do that with other parts of the five primes to reduce costs? I think when it comes to defense, getting better defense for value and cutting costs, there can be huge bipartisan cooperation."
Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy currently co-lead DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), which isn't a formal government department, and have been meeting with several Republican Senate and House members over ways to slash spending.
The DOGE Caucus officially became bipartisan on Tuesday after Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz announced he would be joining the group, advocating for removing the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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"Today I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue," Moskowitz said in a statement.
"I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people. Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, while very necessary, has gotten too big," Moskowitz said.
