Posted on 02/01/2025 6:44:37 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency full access to the federal payment system late on Friday, according to three people familiar with the change, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.
The new authority follows a standoff this week with a top Treasury official who had resisted allowing Mr. Musk’s lieutenants into the department’s payment system, which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government. The official, a career civil servant named David Lebryk, was put on leave and then suddenly retired on Friday after the dispute, according to people familiar with his exit.
The system could give the Trump administration another mechanism to attempt to unilaterally restrict disbursement of money approved for specific purposes by Congress, a push that has faced legal roadblocks.
Mr. Musk, who has been given wide latitude by President Trump to find ways to slash government spending, has recently fixated on Treasury’s payment processes, criticizing the department in a social media post on Saturday for not rejecting more payments as fraudulent or improper.
It is not clear whether the team led by Mr. Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, has blocked any payments since gaining access to the system.
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is not a government department, but a team within the administration. It was put together at Mr. Trump’s direction by Mr. Musk to fan out across federal agencies seeking ways to cut spending, reduce the size of the federal work force and bring more efficiency to the bureaucracy. Most of those working on the initiative were recruited by Mr. Musk and his aides.
Similar DOGE teams have begun demanding access to data and systems at other federal agencies, but...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
BETCHA YOU ARE CORRECT
My very first thought. I hope it is not my last one.
What evil could Elon do there? Cover up government misspending? LOL
I guess when you bake a cake you've got to break a few eggs but he is going after this like a bull in a china shop. Things are on track to hurt a lot of innocent people including Citizens and piss off a lot of others.
Before this is done Musk will be a problem Trump needs to get rid of but will find that difficult. Musk is OC and doesn't have a lick of sense. Doesn't know restraint or when enough is enough or have any idea of pace and scale.
You may be able to crash stop or do evasive manouvers but there is usually collateral damage and accidents along the way.
There are things I trust to nobody without trust but verify and checks.
Wow. That one really burned. Are you always this quick witted?
I don’t understand how someone without any legal authorization is just being given control over treasury payment systems.
Elon is also a provable sociopath and con-man who randomly punishes people on Twitter, such as taking their blue checks and exosing their private DMSs, for the crime of.... accurately stating that Elon cheats at video games? (Which Elon the 50 year old manchild, after months of claiming to be one of the best gamers in the world like it matters, randomly admits to cheating on the grounds that... all the top gamers cheat?)
Why are we letting someone who is so clearly mentally ill have access to our payment systems?
You guys are so screwed. “Stable genius” indeed.
I understood immediately that Greta's_Puny_Human was going to have a problem with anything that Elon Musk did...
Still smarting from the nuclear wedgie that The Trump just gave you and your Justine Trudeau, eh, Dat?
Enjoy licking the boot of your new god. When it blows up in your face, I hope you remember all the people who told you it would happen.
A zeeper AND a NeverTrumper.
Justine Turdeau dropped a live one when he squeezed you out in the loo...
I believe a good number of them are Yooks being paid to beat the pro-Yook, RuZZia! RuZZia! RuZZia! drum on forums and other social media across the internet for their leftist/globalist masters.The majority of the rest are ancient Cold "Warriors" who still think it's 1977.
I mean look how utterly obsessed and crazy USA-FROGLAND and Quackie Canuckster are. Then there are others with little Yook, but not American, flags in their taglines. Good little globalist/neocon piggies they are!
Don’t worry... the OMP has already been hacked in the past, probably by the Chinese.
In a month, Dat and his husband will be screaming for The Trump to stop
You're one of those people who hold Democrats to no standards at all, but demand Sainthood from non-Democrats, aren't ya?
Bwahahaha! You're makin' me homesick for South Philly!
That’s a good thing. I’m hoping they’ll accidently deposit a few hundred K to my account.
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