Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) detailed steps the incoming Trump administration can take to improve and strengthen the U.S. military and its recruitment while cutting down on spending.
President-elect Donald Trump and the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency, co-headed by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aim to cut down on unnecessary spending in the government, with Trump stating the goal of DOGE is to end up with a “smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy.” Mills, a veteran, assessed that the nation’s debt of $36.2 trillion is currently “our greatest existential threat,” saying there are areas of the government where “frivolous spending” can be cut, and that the military is not one of those areas.
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“What we need to be looking out for our military, increasing the quality of life, and prioritizing lethality — not prioritizing things like DEI or other things that may be divisive or impacting our recruitment efforts,” Mills said on Fox News’s Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream. “But look at things like providing child care five days a week, not two days a week. Look at the increase in MillCon VA, where we’re increasing the amount of houses on bases and the quality of it to increase quality of life for our soldiers and our armed forces. These are key and critical things for retention, for recruitment, and also to ensure that our priorities are right on lethality, on the prioritization of military service members, and what the transition plan is later on.”
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Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) appeared alongside Mills and suggested Trump’s Department of Defense could save money by utilizing drones and artificial intelligence, contending the U.S. needs “a lot more drones” and likely “fewer aircraft carriers.” Mills agreed that AI and drones are “the way of the future,” but contended that reducing the U.S.’s aircraft carriers is not a good solution, especially due to the next steps China could take.
Mills then pointed to how the Pentagon has failed seven audits in a row, and questioned how it could not come up with a solution to hold itself accountable. He argued an external audit could “potentially” be done to do a more thorough assessment.
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Ahead of DOGE getting to work on cutting down on government spending, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) expressed enthusiasm for the department’s work to keep the U.S. from going “off the financial cliff.” He also suggested that DOGE’s work would be “practical” and how the department is co-headed by two people who have “transformed whole industries.”
Last week, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) became the first Democrat to announce he would join the House DOGE Caucus, explaining that discussions on improving the government’s efficiency will be held “with or without Democrats at the table.” He then called on his fellow party members to work with Republicans on DOGE for the benefit of voters.