Musk gains ‘full access’ to US Treasury system

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been granted full access to the US Treasury Department’s payment system, according to reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Historically, access to this system has been restricted to a small group of career civil servants due to its sensitivity.

The newly-appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent authorized DOGE representatives, including Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, to access the system, which manages over $6 trillion annually in federal payments, including Social Security, Medicare benefits, and tax refunds.

David Lebryk, a career official who had been acting as Treasury Secretary until Bessent’s confirmation, retired on Friday after reportedly resisting requests from Musk’s team for access to the payment system. Asked why a career bureaucrat would retire rather than comply with an audit request, Musk wrote on X that Treasury officials “literally never denied a payment in their entire career.”

“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,” Musk said.

The Department of Government Efficiency, established by President Donald Trump and led by Musk, aims to identify and eliminate wasteful government spending. Musk has set a goal of reducing the federal deficit by at least $1 trillion, which would require daily cuts averaging $4 billion.

“That would still result in a ~$1T deficit, but economic growth should be able to match that number, which would mean no inflation in 2026,” Musk wrote, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic” about reaching this target.

DOGE’s access has sparked concerns among former Treasury officials and lawmakers over the security of the federal payment system. Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, warned of potential political interference: “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”

“Obviously, there will be EXTREME opposition from the grifters!! And they will make it sound like we’re cutting funding to save baby pandas when we’re actually cutting funding to fraudsters, wastrels & terrorists,” Musk said in another post Saturday.