Days after the new Treasury secretary gave Elon Musk access to a sensitive federal payments system, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a question: What you were thinking, Scott Bessent?
- "I am alarmed that as one of your first acts as secretary, you appear to have handed over a highly sensitive system responsible for millions of Americans' private data—and a key function of government—to an unelected billionaire and an unknown number of his unqualified flunkies," wrote Warren, per the New York Times. The full letter is here.
Musk gained access to the system in his capacity as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a government body. Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, warned that it is "extraordinarily dangerous" to tamper with the nation's payment system, which she said ensures that Americans receive their Social Security checks, tax refunds, and Medicare benefits, per Mass Live.
The Massachusetts outlet quotes Boston University history professor Heather Cox Richardson as questioning why DOGE, which has no "legal authority," has been allowed to have so much sway. On Monday, the White House sought to clarify Musk's role a bit more, describing him as a "special government employee," per the AP. The world's richest person, however, does not receive a government paycheck for his work. (More Elon Musk stories.)
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