Warren, Wyden Call for Watchdog to Investigate Elon Musk’s Dangerous and Unprecedented Access to Critical Treasury Department Payment Systems
Banking, Finance leaders ask Government Accountability Office to identify who was granted access to these systems, why and how this access was granted, and the implications for the nation’s economic and national security
Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the congressional watchdog, to investigate Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s decision to grant access to sensitive government payment systems to Elon Musk and other “Department of Government Efficiency” employees.
These critical systems process trillions of dollars of transactions each year, including the timely disbursement of Social Security checks, tax refunds, and Medicare benefits, and are essential to preventing a default on federal debt. Senator Warren questioned Secretary Bessent on his role in providing Mr. Musk and his team access to Treasury payment systems, along with his role in ousting Mr. DavidLebryk, the Department’s top career official when he raised concerns about this unprecedented move. Senator Wyden questionedSecretary Bessent shortly after the news of Lebryk’s ouster broke.
Meddling with these systems can pose a threat to our economic and national security. First, these payment systems control the flow of over $6 trillion in payments to American families, businesses, and other recipients each year. Information in these systems is critical to the Department’s managing payments on the national debt. Second, these systems contain sensitive personal information about millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds, and other payments from the federal government. It is unclear why Musk and unknown individuals on his team were granted unfettered access to this information, and what protections are in place to ensure Americans’ privacy is protected. And third, with access to these critical systems, Musk, DOGE employees, or others in the Trump Administration could use this as a cover to unilaterally restrict or defund programs Americans rely on.
Senators Warren and Wyden directed the GAO to investigate and determine which specific systems were accessed, which individuals have access to this sensitive information and whether they have the appropriate clearances, and to identify whether guardrails are in place to protect economic and national security and Americans’ privacy.
The Senators also raised questions about the implications of Mr. Musk’s conflicts of interest. X announced that it would be partnering with Visa on a payment system it plans to launch this year, raising the possibility that individuals granted access to these payment systems may be using information they obtained via this access for their own personal gain. Musk’s Tesla has significant ties to China, where the company operates its largest factory by output and receives favorable treatment from the Chinese government, raising questions of whether appropriate protections are in place to identify and manage national security risks related to individuals who may have had access to the system.
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