They won’t agree on a lot, however relating to Pentagon spending, Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire Elon Musk are aligned.
Sanders, who typically makes enemies of billionaires like Musk, posted on X Sunday, “Elon Musk is true. The Pentagon, with the cheap of $886 billion, simply failed its seventh audit in a row. It’s misplaced observe of billions. Closing 12 months, best 13 senators voted in opposition to the Army Business Advanced and a protection price range stuffed with waste and fraud. That should exchange.”
Musk, tapped via Donald Trump to run a new Division of Govt Potency (DOGE) with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy,
Sanders isn’t the one lawmaker at the left who’s open to running with DOGE to cut back protection spending. Democratic Rep. Mo Khanna known as out “waste, fraud and abuse” via the Division of Protection, noting its failed audits.
“In terms of slicing waste, fraud, and abuse and opening the 5 primes to extra pageant, there are Democrats on [the House Armed Services Committee] who will paintings with @elonmusk and @DOGE,” Khanna wrote in a put up on X, the platform Musk owns.
“Cool!” Musk answered to Khanna on X.
Congress has mandated that the Protection Division should move an audit via fiscal 12 months 2028. Closing month, the dep. launched its 7th failed audit — that means as soon as once more it would now not account for all of its spending — the Pentagon claimed it’s proceeding to make growth towards a blank audit via the congressional time limit.
Strangely, protection spending isn’t the one factor the place Sanders and Musk agree. Each have proven make stronger for making diabetes and weight reduction medication like Ozempic and Wegovy more economical.
“From an ethical standpoint, does it hassle you understanding that preserving the cost of Ozempic and Wegovy so prime in america may result in the preventable deaths of tens of hundreds of American citizens?” Sanders, who recently chairs the Senate Well being, Schooling, Hard work and Pensions Committee, requested Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, CEO of Ozempic and Wegovy producer Novo Nordisk, all through a listening to on Capitol Hill.
A Sanders-led investigation discovered that whilst the checklist worth for a four-week provide of Ozempic within the U.S. prices fairly not up to $1,000, a four-week provide is to be had in different international locations for not up to $200. 4 weeks of Wegovy within the U.S. is indexed at greater than $1,300 whilst in different international locations, it prices not up to $200 for the same quantity of drugs.
Sanders has identified that generic producers are in a position to benefit from promoting generic Ozempic for simply $100 a month.
“Novo Nordisk, which has made just about $50 billion in gross sales off of Ozempic and Wegovy, fees American citizens virtually $1,000 a month — the perfect costs on the earth. Why? Over the top company greed,” Sanders stated.
Responding to a video of Sanders declaring his settlement with Musk on making those medication more economical, Musk wrote on X, “I truly am with Bernie in this one.”
After all, this doesn’t imply Sanders and Musk are destined to be buddies. Sanders has steadily criticized Musk for his huge accumulation of wealth, his hundreds of thousands in donations to Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign and his acceptance of executive contracts to fund SpaceX.
Discover more from The Mass Trust
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
