Grassley: no need for congressional oversight into Musk quite yet

WASHINGTON — The Department of Government Efficiency’s embed into the federal government has raised a host of concerns, transforming a debate over how to cut government waste into a confrontation over privacy rights and the nation’s financial standing in the world. DOGE is spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, who has rapidly taken drastic actions to cut spending.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he does not feel that there’s a time coming where Congress will have to look into Musk’s actions.  “No I don’t think so, because Musk does not have any power and I think the president expressed this best by saying ‘Musk brings an idea to me, and I agree with it, we’ll do it, if I don’t agree with it, we won’t do it’. So I believe that says it all.”

Grassley says the Constitution shows Trump is the one ultimately responsible for the oversight of Musk and DOGE.  “Article Two says words something like this, not exactly — the executive powers of the federal government are vested in a President of the United States. So as Truman would say, he had a sign on his desk, ‘The Buck Stops Here’. Well the buck likewise stops with Trump, sitting at the same presidential desk, same Oval Office.”

Advocacy groups and labor unions have filed lawsuits in an attempt to save agencies and federal worker jobs, and five former treasury secretaries are sounding the alarm on the risks associated with Musk’s DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment systems and potentially stopping congressionally authorized payments.