Bernie Sanders Runs For Cover After NBC Host Asks If Dems Should ‘Have Done More’ To Cut Waste Under Biden

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dodged answering if Democrats could have “done more” to cut wasteful government spending under the Biden-Harris administration Sunday on NBC News.

House Republicans took the first step Tuesday to advance President Donald Trump’s first-year legislative agenda with their budget bill, approving up to $4.5 trillion in deficit increases to push for Trump’s goal of cutting between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in spending. On “Meet the Press,” NBC host Kristen Welker pointed out the budget bill, mentioning Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson had talked about cutting wasteful spending and that Medicare and Medicaid made billions in spending errors in 2023.

“Let me ask you, Senator Democrats were in charge for four years. Should the Democratic Party have done more to address some of those issues with the insolvency of our entitlement programs?” Welker asked.

“And Trump was in power four years before that,” Sanders responded. “Look, if there is waste and fraud in the Defense Department, which is the largest single budget item that we fund, which has not been able to fulfill an independent audit in the last seven times, where there’s massive waste and fraud, we should go after waste, fraud and abuse in every agency of government. There’s no argument about that.”

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In a report published on April 24, 2024, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), both Medicare and Medicaid were found to be “susceptible to payment errors” in 2023, costing taxpayers over $100 billion in “improper payments.” The GAO’s report stated that, despite testifying before Congress and suggesting recommendations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, both agencies failed to take action — some of which could have saved Medicare billions, according to the GAO.