Dems Rip Musk-Ramaswamy Plan for Spending Cuts as Illegal 'Power Grab'
"The legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous," said the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
Vivek Ramaswamy gestures as he speaks during an event in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 24, 2024.
(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
"The legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous," said the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
Vivek Ramaswamy gestures as he speaks during an event in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 24, 2024.
(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Nov 22, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
Democrats on the House Budget Committee said Friday that the plan Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined to eliminate spending already appropriated by the U.S. Congress would run afoul of a federal law enacted in response to former President Richard Nixon's impoundment of funds for programs he opposed.
In a Wall Street Journalop-ed published earlier this week, Musk and Ramaswamy specifically mentioned the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (ICA) only to wave it away, arguing it would not hinder their effort to enact sweeping spending cuts as part of the "government efficiency" commission President-elect Donald Trump appointed them to lead.
But House Budget Committee Democrats said Friday that the Nixon-era law and subsequent Supreme Court rulings make clear that "the power of the purse rests solely with Congress."
"Fifty years after the ICA became law, Congress once again confronts a threat attempting to push past the long-recognized boundaries of executive budgetary power," the lawmakers wrote in a fact sheet. "During his first administration, President Trump illegally impounded crucial security assistance funding for Ukraine in an effort to benefit his reelection campaign. Now, Donald Trump and his far-right extremist allies are pushing dangerous legal theories to dismantle that system."
"They want to give the president unchecked power to slash funding for programs like food assistance, public education, healthcare, and federal law enforcement—all without congressional approval," the Democrats continued. "American families would be forced to pay more for basic necessities, investment in infrastructure and jobs would decline, and our communities would become less safe. Instead of working within the democratic process, Trump and his allies want to sidestep Congress entirely. But the Constitution is clear: only Congress, elected by the people, controls how taxpayer dollars are spent."
"House Democrats are ready to fight back against any illegal attempt to gut the programs that keep American families safe and help them make ends meet."
The fact sheet was released days after Musk and Ramaswamy, both billionaires, offered for the first time a detailed explanation of their plan to pursue large-scale cuts to federal regulations and spending, as well as mass firings of federal employees, in their role as co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The pair noted that Trump "has previously suggested" the ICA is unconstitutional and expressed the view that "the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question." The former president appointed half of the court's right-wing supermajority.
"But even without relying on that view, DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion-plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood."
Other programs that would be vulnerable if Musk, Ramaswamy, Trump, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—who's set to lead a new related House subcommittee—get their way are veterans' healthcare, Head Start, housing assistance, and childcare aid, according toThe Washington Post.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement Friday that "the legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous."
"Unilaterally slashing funds that have been lawfully appropriated by the people's elected representatives in Congress would be a devastating power grab that undermines our economy and puts families and communities at risk," said Boyle. "House Democrats are ready to fight back against any illegal attempt to gut the programs that keep American families safe and help them make ends meet."
Nov 22, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
Democrats on the House Budget Committee said Friday that the plan Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined to eliminate spending already appropriated by the U.S. Congress would run afoul of a federal law enacted in response to former President Richard Nixon's impoundment of funds for programs he opposed.
In a Wall Street Journalop-ed published earlier this week, Musk and Ramaswamy specifically mentioned the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (ICA) only to wave it away, arguing it would not hinder their effort to enact sweeping spending cuts as part of the "government efficiency" commission President-elect Donald Trump appointed them to lead.
But House Budget Committee Democrats said Friday that the Nixon-era law and subsequent Supreme Court rulings make clear that "the power of the purse rests solely with Congress."
"Fifty years after the ICA became law, Congress once again confronts a threat attempting to push past the long-recognized boundaries of executive budgetary power," the lawmakers wrote in a fact sheet. "During his first administration, President Trump illegally impounded crucial security assistance funding for Ukraine in an effort to benefit his reelection campaign. Now, Donald Trump and his far-right extremist allies are pushing dangerous legal theories to dismantle that system."
"They want to give the president unchecked power to slash funding for programs like food assistance, public education, healthcare, and federal law enforcement—all without congressional approval," the Democrats continued. "American families would be forced to pay more for basic necessities, investment in infrastructure and jobs would decline, and our communities would become less safe. Instead of working within the democratic process, Trump and his allies want to sidestep Congress entirely. But the Constitution is clear: only Congress, elected by the people, controls how taxpayer dollars are spent."
"House Democrats are ready to fight back against any illegal attempt to gut the programs that keep American families safe and help them make ends meet."
The fact sheet was released days after Musk and Ramaswamy, both billionaires, offered for the first time a detailed explanation of their plan to pursue large-scale cuts to federal regulations and spending, as well as mass firings of federal employees, in their role as co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The pair noted that Trump "has previously suggested" the ICA is unconstitutional and expressed the view that "the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question." The former president appointed half of the court's right-wing supermajority.
"But even without relying on that view, DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion-plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood."
Other programs that would be vulnerable if Musk, Ramaswamy, Trump, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—who's set to lead a new related House subcommittee—get their way are veterans' healthcare, Head Start, housing assistance, and childcare aid, according toThe Washington Post.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement Friday that "the legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous."
"Unilaterally slashing funds that have been lawfully appropriated by the people's elected representatives in Congress would be a devastating power grab that undermines our economy and puts families and communities at risk," said Boyle. "House Democrats are ready to fight back against any illegal attempt to gut the programs that keep American families safe and help them make ends meet."
SPENDING IS SERVICES
AUSTERITY IS POVERTY
By AFP
November 20, 2024
Elon Musk outlined plans Wednesday for his new role as “efficiency” czar — signaling an assault on federal spending and staffing that would be backed by President-elect Donald Trump’s executive powers and a conservative Supreme Court.
In the Wall Street Journal, the world’s richest man said he was taking aim at hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending — including funding for public broadcasting and abortion rights group Planned Parenthood — as well as at bureaucracy that represents an “existential threat” to US democracy.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that he, along with fellow businessman and Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy, would work to slash federal regulations and make major administrative cuts and cost savings.
“We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in their most detailed remarks since Trump named them heads of a new Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk said DOGE — a nod to Musk’s support for a cryptocurrency — will prepare a list of regulations issued by government agencies without Congress approval, which Trump could then invalidate by executive order.
“When the president nullifies thousands of such regulations, critics will allege executive overreach. In fact, it will be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat that were never authorized by Congress,” Musk said.
He added that a reduction in regulations would pave the way for “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” and said DOGE would aim to cut more than $500 billion in government expenditures.
“With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” Musk said.
November 20, 2024
Elon Musk outlined plans Wednesday for his new role as “efficiency” czar — signaling an assault on federal spending and staffing that would be backed by President-elect Donald Trump’s executive powers and a conservative Supreme Court.
In the Wall Street Journal, the world’s richest man said he was taking aim at hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending — including funding for public broadcasting and abortion rights group Planned Parenthood — as well as at bureaucracy that represents an “existential threat” to US democracy.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that he, along with fellow businessman and Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy, would work to slash federal regulations and make major administrative cuts and cost savings.
“We are entrepreneurs, not politicians. We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in their most detailed remarks since Trump named them heads of a new Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk said DOGE — a nod to Musk’s support for a cryptocurrency — will prepare a list of regulations issued by government agencies without Congress approval, which Trump could then invalidate by executive order.
“When the president nullifies thousands of such regulations, critics will allege executive overreach. In fact, it will be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat that were never authorized by Congress,” Musk said.
He added that a reduction in regulations would pave the way for “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” and said DOGE would aim to cut more than $500 billion in government expenditures.
“With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” Musk said.
'Terror and fear': Elon Musk opens government workers to harassment after id'ing them on X
Sarah K. Burris
November 22, 2024
Sarah K. Burris
November 22, 2024
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, who supports Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump, gestures as he speaks about voting during an America PAC Town Hall in Folsom, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File
Donald Trump hasn't been sworn into office yet, but his ally Elon Musk is already getting started working for a government agency that hasn't yet been created.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the "Department of Government Efficiency" co-director is tweeting out the names and personal details of federal employees, leading to some of his more than 205 million followers to "launch blistering critiques of ordinary" workers.
Ashley Thomas, a little-known director of "climate diversity" at the U.S. International Development Financial Corp., was targeted by the billionaire, who called her job "fake." The tweet received 32 million views and spawned a flood of memes making fun of her and telling her that her job would be over soon, the report stated.
Musk was put in charge of the soon-to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy will be his co-chair. It's tasked with findings massive cuts in government spending.
Thus far, Ramaswamy hasn't targeted individuals. Instead, he's talked about his slashing of the federal workforce broadly, saying that he would fire people at random — suggesting it could be done based on Social Security number.
In his estimation, he could slash 75 percent of the workforce by choosing people whose Social Security numbers start or end with odd numbers.
Using X as a tool to attack people is nothing new, the report said.
"After taking over Twitter in 2022, Musk targeted Yoel Roth, the platform’s former head of trust and safety, who had recently left. Musk tweeted, incorrectly, that it looked like Roth had argued 'in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services,'" the Journal recalled. "Some of the platform’s users interpreted it as Musk calling Roth a pedophile, and they posted calls for Roth’s death. Roth moved out of his house temporarily because of threats."
“These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. It represents about 800,000 members of the 2.3 million federal employees.
“It’s intended to make them fearful that they will become afraid to speak up," said Kelley.
“We are a comparative steal, and we want to help clean it up too,” said Kelley, a former Army sergeant. “The people I represent have been called names like deep state, but they are working people just like you and I.”
Read the full report here.
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, who supports Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump, gestures as he speaks about voting during an America PAC Town Hall in Folsom, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File
Donald Trump hasn't been sworn into office yet, but his ally Elon Musk is already getting started working for a government agency that hasn't yet been created.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the "Department of Government Efficiency" co-director is tweeting out the names and personal details of federal employees, leading to some of his more than 205 million followers to "launch blistering critiques of ordinary" workers.
Ashley Thomas, a little-known director of "climate diversity" at the U.S. International Development Financial Corp., was targeted by the billionaire, who called her job "fake." The tweet received 32 million views and spawned a flood of memes making fun of her and telling her that her job would be over soon, the report stated.
Musk was put in charge of the soon-to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy will be his co-chair. It's tasked with findings massive cuts in government spending.
Thus far, Ramaswamy hasn't targeted individuals. Instead, he's talked about his slashing of the federal workforce broadly, saying that he would fire people at random — suggesting it could be done based on Social Security number.
In his estimation, he could slash 75 percent of the workforce by choosing people whose Social Security numbers start or end with odd numbers.
Using X as a tool to attack people is nothing new, the report said.
"After taking over Twitter in 2022, Musk targeted Yoel Roth, the platform’s former head of trust and safety, who had recently left. Musk tweeted, incorrectly, that it looked like Roth had argued 'in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services,'" the Journal recalled. "Some of the platform’s users interpreted it as Musk calling Roth a pedophile, and they posted calls for Roth’s death. Roth moved out of his house temporarily because of threats."
“These tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. It represents about 800,000 members of the 2.3 million federal employees.
“It’s intended to make them fearful that they will become afraid to speak up," said Kelley.
“We are a comparative steal, and we want to help clean it up too,” said Kelley, a former Army sergeant. “The people I represent have been called names like deep state, but they are working people just like you and I.”
Read the full report here.
Musk, Ramaswamy outline plans for government reform
US President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk would lead an efficiency drive under his new administration - Copyright AFP/File Kena Betancur
Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The federal government is "anti-democratic and antithetical to the founders' vision," Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday in a joint op-ed on Wednesday.
The nation was founded on the notion that citizens elect people to run the government, but that's not how it works now, Musk and Ramaswamy said in the op-ed that was published by the Wall Street Journal.
Instead, most legal regulations are not those passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. Instead, they are tens of thousands "legal edicts" created annually by millions of unelected bureaucrats.
"Most government enforcement decisions and discretionary expenditures aren't made by the democratically elected president or even his political appointees but by millions of unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies," Musk and Ramaswamy said.
The bureaucrats consider themselves "immune from firing" due to civil service protections and impose "massive direct and indirect costs on taxpayers," they said.
President-elect Donald Trump's election victory gives them a "historic opportunity to solve the problem" of a large and bureaucratic federal government through the proposed creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, they said.
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The DOGE, led by Musk and Ramaswamy, will be tasked with reducing the size of the federal government.
"The entrenched and ever-growing bureaucracy represents an existential threat to our republic," Musk and Ramaswamy said, "and politicians have abetted it for too long."
The pair described themselves "entrepreneurs, not politicians" who will "serve as outside volunteers" who will cut costs.
They said they will help the incoming Trump administration to identify and hire a small team of "small-government crusaders"that includes "some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America."
The DOGE team will work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to promote governmental reforms that include regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings.
Executive action will be the prime driver of their reform efforts, Musk and Ramaswamy said.
They intend to advise Trump on executive actions that legally can impose "reductions in force" instead of targeting specific employees to reduce the size of federal agencies and departments without violating civil-service protections.
"Mr. Trump can implement any number of 'rules governing the competitive service' that would curtail administrative overgrowth," the pair said.
After being sworn in, Musk and Ramaswamy said President-elect Trump can impose firings of federal workers on a large scale and relocated federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., to make the federal government more efficient and less costly for taxpayers.
The DOGE and its leaders in Musk and Ramaswamy only can act in an advisory capacity and cannot make any legally binding changes to the federal government.
Any advice provided by the DOGE will require executive or congressional actions to carry the weight of law.
REMEMBER RUBY RIDGE AND WACO!
'Needs to be abolished': Republican sets sights on axing ATF and calls agency a 'disaster'
Erik De La Garza
November 22, 2024
ATF. (Photo credit: BreizhAtao / Shutterstock)
Congressional Republicans are aiming at a new target in their promise to gut federal agencies once Donald Trump reemerges in the White House with a GOP trifecta.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) said he plans to introduce a measure that would abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, which he attacked for continuously violating “citizen rights and Second Amendment rights.”
“The ATF is a disaster,” Burlison told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “For decades they’ve been a disaster agency and they’ve been violating the Constitution’s Second Amendment.”
Burlison, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, added that states should have the ability to regulate the matters themselves without federal oversight.
“Every time they try to get involved, they mess things up," Burlison said. “They have a long history of mistakes of abusing individuals' Second Amendment rights – all the way back to Ruby Ridge, to what happened at Waco, and then you had the Operation Fast and Furious."
He added: “I think at the end of the day, this agency needs to be abolished, and we need to let the states police what happens to the states.”
An ATF spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement the agency “provides enormous benefits to the American public through all of its efforts fighting violent crime every day.”
The ATF isn't the only federal agency in Burlison's crosshairs.
He also told the network he thinks the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency should be abolished, and said downsizing government was a top priority for Republicans next year that he hopes can be accomplished in the first 100 days.
“A lot of the ABCs of this town need to be abolished starting with the Department of Education, I think we should eliminate the EPA…let all of these decision be made at the state level.”
He added that he was “looking forward” to working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in their new advisory roles to “consolidate or eliminate entire agencies.”
'Needs to be abolished': Republican sets sights on axing ATF and calls agency a 'disaster'
Erik De La Garza
November 22, 2024
ATF. (Photo credit: BreizhAtao / Shutterstock)
Congressional Republicans are aiming at a new target in their promise to gut federal agencies once Donald Trump reemerges in the White House with a GOP trifecta.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) said he plans to introduce a measure that would abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, which he attacked for continuously violating “citizen rights and Second Amendment rights.”
“The ATF is a disaster,” Burlison told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “For decades they’ve been a disaster agency and they’ve been violating the Constitution’s Second Amendment.”
Burlison, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, added that states should have the ability to regulate the matters themselves without federal oversight.
“Every time they try to get involved, they mess things up," Burlison said. “They have a long history of mistakes of abusing individuals' Second Amendment rights – all the way back to Ruby Ridge, to what happened at Waco, and then you had the Operation Fast and Furious."
He added: “I think at the end of the day, this agency needs to be abolished, and we need to let the states police what happens to the states.”
An ATF spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement the agency “provides enormous benefits to the American public through all of its efforts fighting violent crime every day.”
The ATF isn't the only federal agency in Burlison's crosshairs.
He also told the network he thinks the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency should be abolished, and said downsizing government was a top priority for Republicans next year that he hopes can be accomplished in the first 100 days.
“A lot of the ABCs of this town need to be abolished starting with the Department of Education, I think we should eliminate the EPA…let all of these decision be made at the state level.”
He added that he was “looking forward” to working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in their new advisory roles to “consolidate or eliminate entire agencies.”
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Sakshi Gupta spoke with Abigail Gamble for Digital Journal at the Calgary Central Library during DevFest YYC. — Photo by Jennifer Friesen, Digital Journal
