A government watchdog tore into tech billionaire Elon Musk's operation to reform the federal government in a blistering thread published to Musk's own X platform on Thursday.
Musk's team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has seized control of vital federal IT systems since President Donald Trump was sworn in, gaining access to the Treasury Department's payment systems and the computers managing Medicare and Medicaid, among other things. A federal judge temporarily halted some of DOGE's access earlier in the day.
"Donald Trump claims that he wants to make the government more efficient and cut federal spending—that’s supposed to be the whole point of DOGE. But he’s not acting like it. At all," wrote the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or CREW.
"First off, he unceremoniously fired inspectors general from 17 different federal agencies. Those are the watchdogs who investigate and root out waste, fraud and abuse. They pay for themselves many times over," CREW continued. "He’s also attempting to unilaterally freeze funding to certain programs and agencies — which likely violates the Impoundment Control Act. If he was serious about saving taxpayer dollars, he could work with Congress rather than improperly withholding funds."
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Beyond even these things, CREW noted, few of Trump's first-month priorities seem to have much to do with government efficiency.
"For years now Trump indicated that he wants to use law enforcement agencies like the FBI to go after his political enemies. That’s not exactly an efficient use of resources either, and could undermine actual national security and public safety efforts," wrote CREW. "And while we’re at it, is it really efficient to let January 6th insurrectionists go free when several of them have already had new interactions with law enforcement? Is it efficient to spend days golfing at Trump golf courses, where Secret Service protection has already cost taxpayers at least $1.75 million?"
Democratic lawmakers are currently trying to leverage fear and outrage over Musk's infiltration of the government to drive a wedge between Trump and his voters.
