Summary
Elon Musk claims his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is shutting down payments to federal contractors, including a Lutheran charity, asserting it is eliminating corruption.
This suggests DOGE has access to Treasury’s payment systems, though officials have not confirmed the extent.
Senator Ron Wyden warned that DOGE may interfere with Social Security, Medicare, and government contracts.
Musk also called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die,” amid DOGE’s growing influence over federal financial operations.
Thanks for taking the time. So I guess it is all legal and Musk somehow does have all this authority… It’s bonkers, right? Doesn’t it somehow feel like the U.S. government has been running relatively well for a long time based solely on… the expectation of decency and norms, promises and gentleman’s agreements? There aren’t actual laws, checks or balances to avoid any of this, but it was sort of assumed that nobody in these positions would be pure evil. But then, once they’re in, they can do whatever they want.
Courts are slow everywhere, that’s why it’s a good idea to have some rules and roadblocks, so that someone can’t just start dismantling everything on day one and courts have time to catch up before shit hits the fan.