Fear gripped Washington this morning as it emerged Elon Musk had gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
The system is run by non-political career civil servants and controls trillions of dollars of government funds that go to programs like Social Security and Medicare. Any interruption in its operation would spark widespread economic failure.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) the green light to have full access to the payments system late on Friday.
It was not immediately clear why Musk wants access to the system, which handles around $5trillion annually, but it could provide the Trump administration another means to target wasteful spending.
It comes after a standoff this week with top Treasury official David Lebryk, who was in charge of the system through Donald Trump’s first term and during Biden’s tenure. Lebryk had resisted Musk’s attempts to access the system. He was abruptly placed on leave before announcing his retirement on Friday.
Democrats and the liberal press erupted over Musk’s move – with the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren calling for Congress to investigate Musk’s new power, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal saying the ordeal ‘reeks of corruption.’
The allies of Musk who were granted access were reportedly made employees of the Treasury Department and were greenlit through government background checks. They’ve also obtained the necessary security clearances, according to the NYT.
So far, these people haven’t gotten to work and no government payments have been shut off, according to sources that spoke with the outlet.
Elon Musk has reportedly won his battle to gain control over the Treasury Department’s payment system, which contains a massive repository of Americans’ tax data
Scott Bessent, who now leads the Treasury Department, was the one who gave access to Musk and his allies at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to the New York Times
Musk has previously said he wants to cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending, a promise he has backpedaled on in recent weeks, saying this month that $1 trillion in cuts is more realistic.
The Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary Lebryk was the last person to go against Musk, with the Washington Post reporting he resisted efforts from DOGE and the Trump transition team last month to get access to the payment system.
‘The Fiscal Service performs some of the most vital functions in government,’ Lebryk said in a letter to Treasury employees sent out Friday.
‘Our work may be unknown to most of the public, but that doesn´t mean it isn´t exceptionally important. I am grateful for having been able to work alongside some of the nation´s best and most talented operations staff.’
Musk on Saturday responded to a post on his social media platform X about the departure of Lebryk.
‘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,’ he wrote.
DOGE’s responsibilities with the payments system remain murky. The task force’s role is to modernize ‘Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,’ according to the executive order that established the unofficial government agency.
Mark Mazur, who was in senior-level roles at the Treasury Department under Obama and Biden, told the Washington Post that the payment system is not political and that any other use would be unprecedented.
Elon Musk has had unprecedented access to the Trump and the White House. He donated nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to the Trump campaign
Senator Ron Wyden, the highest ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Friday to Bessent expressing concern about Musk’s intentions with the federal payments system
‘This is a mechanical job—they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,’ Mazur said.
‘It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda… You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.’
If payments are somehow disrupted in the coming days, it would represent another avenue through which the Trump White House is attempting to bypass Congress
Trump recently froze trillions of dollars in grants to make sure the spending aligned with his political priorities. A judge quickly blocked the order, which ultimately led to the White House rescinding the freeze altogether.
Senator Ron Wyden, the highest ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Friday to Bessent expressing concern about Musk’s intentions.
He wrote that ‘officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs.’
‘To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,’ Wyden said.
Wyden also made a post on social media suggesting that Musk, who has received billions in government contracts for his companies over the years, should not have access to the Treasury.
DOGE is headquartered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington DC
‘Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,’ Wyden wrote.
This comes as two top officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were put on administrative leave on Saturday after they refused to provide DOGE access to their systems.
CNN reported that these two officials refused even when DOGE employees threatened to call US Marshals to the grant them access to their offices in Washington DC.
USAID is a government agency that receives its funding from Congress to primarily help developing nations that have problems with natural disasters, disease or political instability.
For much of Sunday, Musk has been posting about USAID, calling the agency ‘evil’ and ‘a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.’
