Elon Musk's DOGE given full access to the US government payment system
Billionaire Elon Musk and his government efficiency team have been granted access to the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, ending a days-long standoff, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
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Musk, who leads the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, was tasked by President Donald Trump with identifying fraud and waste in government spending. He had pushed for access to the Treasury system that manages federal payments but faced resistance from career Treasury official David Lebryk, who was placed on leave this week before announcing his retirement. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved Musk’s team’s access, according to the *Times*.
The system processes over $6 trillion annually on behalf of federal agencies and contains the personal data of millions of Americans receiving Social Security payments, tax refunds, and other government funds. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, appeared to confirm the access in a post on the social network Bluesky.
“Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system. Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it,” Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote on Saturday.
In a letter to Bessent on Friday, Wyden warned that any “politically-motivated meddling” in the payment system could cause “severe damage to our country and the economy.”
Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is not a formal federal agency but a White House unit created at Trump’s direction.
On Saturday, Musk posted on X, claiming that Treasury officials had been instructed to approve payments to “known fraudulent or terrorist groups.”
