The efforts will likely face considerable political pushback in Washington, policy experts told The Epoch Times.
Out of all the ambitions of President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), one that will likely face considerable pushback in Washington is slashing the ever-growing defense budget of the United States military.
After the Pentagon failed its seventh consecutive annual audit earlier this year, the Department of Defense’s (DoD) ballooning budget, which climbed to $895.2 billion for fiscal year 2025, is facing renewed scrutiny among Washington lawmakers.
DOGE, soon to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, will examine the Defense Department’s sprawling budget and try to rein in costs.
Due to the Pentagon’s history of failing audits and clandestine accounting, this could be one of DOGE’s most ambitious goals in its quest to slash $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget.
Furthermore, policy experts suggest that DOGE will face significant obstacles in cutting the Pentagon’s budget—including the increasing foreign threats overseas, the lobbying pushback in Washington, and the sheer cost of payments and benefits for service members on the Defense Department’s payroll.
“The international security picture keeps getting worse,” Eric Gomez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, whose research explores the U.S. military budget, told The Epoch Times.
“I expect opponents to reductions in military spending to make arguments that greater instability means more spending is necessary.”
Historically cuts to the military budget have been difficult, John Boyd Jr. of the Boyd Company—which specializes in corporate site relocation and economic development—told The Epoch Times.
However, there’s also the “changing political calculus occurring” after Trump’s election win last month, including growing bipartisan support for reevaluating the Pentagon’s budget.
“A number of high-profile progressives have actually signed on and applauded these efforts,” Boyd said.
“How can anyone argue with a straight face that it’s not time to incorporate [DOGE’s] efficiencies into the bloated federal budget, including the Department of Defense?”
Explosive Pentagon Budget
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) have praised DOGE’s goal of cutting defense spending, with the latter suggesting the effort would produce “huge bipartisan cooperation.”
By Jacob Burg
