New West Virginia Senator Jim Justice said he has been ‘shocked’ by the approach Democrats have taken to Elon Musk’s widespread cuts to the federal government.
Justice, the former Governor of West Virginia who joined the senate in January, told Fox News’ Faulkner Focus that he has been left bewildered by what he has seen since taking office.
‘I’m a new kid on the block in the senate,’ he said.
‘Watching the liberal Democrats in Washington, DC, is absolutely shocking to me.’
As a fervent supporter of Donald Trump, Justice has backed Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to continue slashing funding and jobs within the government.
While Democrats have fumed over some cuts, including firing a number of Department of Energy workers that oversee America’s nuclear arsenal, which Trump quickly reversed, Republicans say other funding was a huge waste.
Justice called out ‘tens of millions of dollars to people to teach them about Sesame Street’, referencing $20 million that was being spent by USAID to produce an Iraqi version of Sesame Street that was among the first cuts made by DOGE.
‘Why in the world you absolutely defend this unbelievable amount of waste?’ the senator questioned. ‘And they continue to do it.’
Justice previously made a name for himself in MAGA world when he spoke at the Republican National Convention last year, as he brought his beloved bulldog Babydog on stage with him.
He said this week that following Trump’s resounding election win in November, lawmakers should allow the new administration space to do whatever they feel is necessary.
‘At the end of the day, we elected President Trump, and let him do his job,’ Justice said.
‘For crying out loud, let him get his team in place and let him do his job… We’ve gotta wake up in America and get ourselves on the right footing.’
Musk’s DOGE has cut several billion dollars from the federal budget in its first month in power, starkly dividing opinions as some praise the cost-cutting measures while others argue the widespread cuts have also impacted needed work.
The department said this week that it has cut at least $1.9 billion of misplaced funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), adding that former President Joe Biden’s administration was to blame.
‘These funds were earmarked for the administration of financial services, but were no longer needed,’ DOGE wrote in a post to X, adding that the funds were lost in the first place due to a ‘broken process.’
‘The funds are now available for other use by the Treasury,’ the department said.
Justice said he is a supporter of Musk’s slash and burn approach to federal spending, saying: ‘Thank goodness for Elon Musk, that he’s absolutely willing to do this and asking for nothing.’
The senator took a parting shot at his Democrat colleagues for ‘running through the streets with their hair on fire’, saying they were trying to ‘whip people up’ in opposition to the new government.
‘That was the strategy they had in the election and they got their doors blown off,’ he added.
After taking the ax to the HUD budget, this week DOGE moved to scrutinize the agency responsible for the most federal spending – the Pentagon.
DOGE agents arrived at the Pentagon on Friday, a source confirmed to DailyMail.com, and are conducting meetings.
The Wall Street Journal published an image of an unofficial sign featuring the faces of 15 known DOGE agents posted in the bathroom in the Pentagon.
‘Meet the DOGE Team,’ the sign read.
Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stated that he welcomes additional scrutiny to the department and its spending.
‘We welcome DOGE to the Pentagon, and I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon,’ Hegseth said to reporters in Germany.