Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his Department of government efficiency (DOGE) have been given full access to the US federal payment system by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent late Friday, a report from the New York Times said.
This enables Musk and his efficiency team to lead a powerful tool to monitor and possibly limit the government spending. The DOGE as is has been tasked by President Donald Trump to identify fraud and waste in the administration.
Musk had sought access to the payment system that the Treasury uses to allocate federal funds. However, the full access has landed on the billionaire’s hands after a standoff with a top Treasury official, David Lebryk, this week. Amid this, Lebryk was first placed on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday.
The payment system sends out more than $2 trillion per year in payments on behalf of federal agencies and also contains personal information of millions of Americans who receive Social Security payments, tax refunds, and other such payments from the government.
‘Any politically motivated meddling…’
US Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, seemingly confirmed that Musk has been given access to the system. He posted on the social network Bluesky, as per Reuters, and said, “Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system. Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it.”
Wyden also wrote a letter to Scott Bessent and said, “To put it bluntly, these payments simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy.”
“I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems,” the Oregon Senator added.
On Saturday, Wyden also reiterated his concerns while flagging the possible conflict of interests Musk could have with the system. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” he posted on social media.
Notably, the Treasury secretary granted access to the payment system to Musk and a handful of his DOGE staff including Tom Krause, the chief executive of a Silicon Valley company, Cloud Software Group, the NYT reported.
With the access being given to DOGE, similar teams have started demanding access to the data and systems at other federal agencies. However, none of these agencies hold control of the flow of money the way Treasury department does.
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Notably, Musk’s Department of government efficiency is not a federal department but, a commission or a unit assemble for working out of the White House by Trump.
Musk on Saturday took to X and claimed without confirming that officials at the Treasury department had been instructed to approve payments to “known fraudulent or terrorist groups.”
(with Reuters input)
