Politics
The letter is a sign of mounting outrage among Democrats over the unorthodox efforts that the Trump administration and Musk are preparing to take control of how congressionally approved funds are spent.
By Alan Rappeport, New York Times Service
2 minutes to read
WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Monday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanding answers for why the so-called Department of Government Efficiency was granted access to the federal payments system, giving Elon Musk and his team a powerful tool that could be used to track and potentially limit government spending.
The letter is a sign of mounting outrage among Democrats over the unorthodox efforts that the Trump administration and Musk are preparing to take control of how congressionally approved funds are spent. The questions come after a career civil servant named David Lebryk abruptly resigned Friday after requests to grant Musk’s lieutenants access to Treasury’s payment system.
“It is extraordinarily dangerous to meddle with the critical systems that process trillions of dollars of transactions each year, are essential to preventing a default on federal debt, and ensure that tens of millions of Americans receive their Social Security checks, tax refunds and Medicare benefits,” wrote Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
The senator asked Bessent to explain what Treasury systems were made accessible to staff affiliated with Musk’s efficiency departmen
