Last week, Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens published a new op-ed in MSNBC arguing that Elon Musk’s unprecedented takeover of the Treasury payment system – which administers Social Security payments, Medicare benefits, and more – will make it easier for the Trump Administration to gut federal programs that working families rely on.
“[A]ccessing the Treasury’s payment system could be a path to freezing government funding, as the administration attempted earlier this week. Musk could halt payments to programs like Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, Head Start and more, maneuvering around the courts.
“Musk has already directed his engineers to find ways to turn off the flow of money to programs he and President Donald Trump oppose. With the keys to the Treasury’s payment system, he can unilaterally cut off these funds right at the source.”
Owens also spoke with Democracy Now about the Treasury “coup,” saying, “[Musk] is interested in cutting this funding for a very personal reason, which is he is interested in paying for the tax cuts that Congress is teeing up this year. They are estimating $5 trillion in tax cuts, mostly going to the wealthy and corporations. And DOGE is the entity that is supposedly going to find the money, find the savings to pay for those tax cuts. So I think we can sum it up this way: Elon Musk is going to pay for his tax cut with your Social Security.”
Excerpts from the piece are below. Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with a Groundwork expert about Elon Musk and DOGE.
EXCERPTS
“Friday, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department, David A. Lebryk, reportedly resigned after refusing to hand Musk’s lackeys the keys to the government’s entire payment system and the $6 trillion in payments the system processes annually.”
“Musk could also get his hands on the “Do Not Pay” system that lists individuals or contractors the government has blacklisted, theoretically granting him control over whom the government does business with. Government contracts have been central to Musk’s $400 billion net worth; his companies have signed billions of dollars’ worth of government contracts. He could easily place his rivals on the Do Not Pay list or turn the spigot back on for friends who have been blacklisted.”
“While the Trump administration has sworn up and down that it will not touch Social Security and Medicare, it’s hard not to question whether this access would put these payments right in DOGE’s crosshairs. Initially, Musk pledged that DOGE would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. Achieving that goal is nearly impossible without going after Medicare and Social Security.”
“Nor is Musk chasing these cuts for their own sake. He’s helping congressional Republicans attempt to pay for a new round of tax breaks for corporations and the ultrawealthy — including Musk himself.”
“The richest man in the world, whom no one elected to any government position, is seeking unprecedented access to confidential information, including information pertaining to his own business interests, and seems hell-bent on cutting off as much funding as possible for the programs that matter to the rest of us.”
“Luckily, Americans see right through this grift. An AP-NORC poll found that 52% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Musk — and less than a third of Americans approve of DOGE. Americans don’t want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford.”