Musk takes control of US Treasury payments systems
By AFP
February 3, 2025
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk backed Trump and other Republican campaigns with hundreds of millions of dollars, a small fraction of his world-leading wealth - Copyright AFP ANGELA WEISS
Elon Musk’s aides have taken control of the US Treasury Department’s payments system — which manages trillions of dollars of transactions each year — sparking alarm among critics.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is leading President Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted Sunday on X, the platform he owns.
Later, replying to a post outlining alleged payments to Lutheran charities, Musk said DOGE was “rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
The Treasury’s closely guarded payments system handles the money flow of the US government, including $6 trillion annually for Social Security, Medicare, federal salaries, and other critical payments.
Musk’s control of the payments system was approved by incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and was made possible when a career official was put on administrative leave on Friday after refusing to hand over access, The Washington Post first reported.
The official subsequently retired from the department, a source close to the matter told AFP.
Trump on Sunday praised Musk as “a big cost-cutter.”
“Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job,” he added.
News outlet Wired was first to report that Musk has placed young surrogates working for DOGE into key government positions, with his team gaining unprecedented access to the payment systems typically restricted to career employees.
The staff, reportedly aged between 19 and 24, were also placed at the federal Office of Personnel Management, the HR department for public workers that sent out an email last week offering most employees a chance to leave the government on immediate notice with about nine months’ pay.
Democratic lawmakers have expressed deep concerns about political operators having access to the US government’s money flow, pointing to possible systemic risks to the economy.
Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the move in a letter to Bessent as “extraordinarily dangerous.”
“I am alarmed that as one of your first acts as secretary, you appear to have handed over a highly sensitive system responsible for millions of Americans’ private data — and a key function of government — to an unelected billionaire and an unknown number of his unqualified flunkies,” wrote Warren.
She also said that sidelining experienced staff in this crucial corner of government “puts the country at greater risk of defaulting on our debt, which could trigger a global financial crisis.”
On X, Musk predicted “Excitement guaranteed” in response to a post that said DOGE would uncover an “unprecedented amount of fraud and corruption in numerous government departments.”
By AFP
February 3, 2025
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk backed Trump and other Republican campaigns with hundreds of millions of dollars, a small fraction of his world-leading wealth - Copyright AFP ANGELA WEISS
Elon Musk’s aides have taken control of the US Treasury Department’s payments system — which manages trillions of dollars of transactions each year — sparking alarm among critics.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is leading President Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted Sunday on X, the platform he owns.
Later, replying to a post outlining alleged payments to Lutheran charities, Musk said DOGE was “rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
The Treasury’s closely guarded payments system handles the money flow of the US government, including $6 trillion annually for Social Security, Medicare, federal salaries, and other critical payments.
Musk’s control of the payments system was approved by incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and was made possible when a career official was put on administrative leave on Friday after refusing to hand over access, The Washington Post first reported.
The official subsequently retired from the department, a source close to the matter told AFP.
Trump on Sunday praised Musk as “a big cost-cutter.”
“Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job,” he added.
News outlet Wired was first to report that Musk has placed young surrogates working for DOGE into key government positions, with his team gaining unprecedented access to the payment systems typically restricted to career employees.
The staff, reportedly aged between 19 and 24, were also placed at the federal Office of Personnel Management, the HR department for public workers that sent out an email last week offering most employees a chance to leave the government on immediate notice with about nine months’ pay.
Democratic lawmakers have expressed deep concerns about political operators having access to the US government’s money flow, pointing to possible systemic risks to the economy.
Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the move in a letter to Bessent as “extraordinarily dangerous.”
“I am alarmed that as one of your first acts as secretary, you appear to have handed over a highly sensitive system responsible for millions of Americans’ private data — and a key function of government — to an unelected billionaire and an unknown number of his unqualified flunkies,” wrote Warren.
She also said that sidelining experienced staff in this crucial corner of government “puts the country at greater risk of defaulting on our debt, which could trigger a global financial crisis.”
On X, Musk predicted “Excitement guaranteed” in response to a post that said DOGE would uncover an “unprecedented amount of fraud and corruption in numerous government departments.”
CONTRACTOR IS CHRISTIAN REFUGEE CHARITY
Gregory Korte and Viktoria Dendrinou
Sun, February 2, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down some payments to federal contractors, suggesting that the world’s richest man may have access to sensitive systems used at the US Treasury Department
“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted on X, saying officials reporting to his so-called Department of Government Efficiency are “rapidly shutting down” payments to a Lutheran charity.
The Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to questions about the extent of Musk’s access. President Donald Trump has put the Tesla CEO — and largest donor to his election effort — in charge of an effort to modernize federal information technology.
But Musk seems to be expanding that mandate to include control over financial flows in other parts of the federal government. Top security officials at USAID were placed on leave Saturday after refusing to allow DOGE staffers access to systems at the foreign assistance agency, saying they lacked the required security clearances.
Musk on Sunday called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die.”
Musk is targeting systems that process tens of billions of dollars a day in payments for US government agencies and the officials that oversee them. Musk’s statements on Sunday follow last week’s departure of David Lebryk, the Treasury Department’s most senior career official, who had been in charge of payment systems at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
Trump gave Musk’s efforts his seal of approval Sunday night. “Elon’s doing a good job,” Trump said to reporters.
“He’s a big cost cutter,” Trump said. “Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go, but I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy, very smart, and he’s very much into cutting the budget of our federal government.”
Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday that he’s been told that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has granted DOGE full access to Treasury’s payment systems.
“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies,” Wyden said on BlueSky, a social media rival to Musk’s X. “All of it.”
Treasury officials have long maintained that its role is to serve as the federal government’s checkbook — and that the decision about whether to approve or deny payment belongs to individual agencies based on funds appropriated by Congress.
“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Musk wrote on X, without providing evidence.
The Treasury has a Do-Not-Pay system in place designed to prevent such payments.
Musk said DOGE was shutting down payments by the US Department of Health and Human Services to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that has been providing social services to refugees. HHS and Lutheran Family Services didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
--With assistance from Dana Hull, Alberto Nardelli and Skylar Woodhouse.
(Updates with Treasury policy in penultimate paragraph)
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