California Rep. Ro Khanna (D) said Elon Musk may get “frustrated” while working through the ranks to cut unnecessary government spending.
“I think Elon may get frustrated fairly quickly,” Khanna said on Thursday’s “POLITICO Tech Podcast.”
“I mean, let’s see if he can get defense cuts. My guess is that there are going to be a lot of the people on that committee [who] are going to want even more defense spending. It’ll be a test.”
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were tapped to lead efforts to restructure government agencies and their spending habits as co-heads of the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
However, Khanna noted the two are not the first to present suggestions on budget cuts and thus may face an uphill battle.
“There are a lot of commissions that have recommended a lot of things for less wasteful government, but they tend to be just that, commissions,” Khanna said. “And I think the real question here will be how effective will he be going after true waste and true abuse like you have in terms of defense contractors.”
Yet the two have already announced plans to ship out federal jobs amid massive layoffs and regulatory rescissions.
However, as an outside-of-government commission, DOGE would be limited to an advisory capacity, which means it may face several barriers from within the executive branch and Congress, experts previously told The Hill.
That said, Musk has earned the ear of president-elect Trump as a close ally and has been a strong advocate for him throughout the election cycle.
