DOGE having access to government agencies is illegal

Biden didn't lay off 11,000 people.

About 500-1000 people were laid off.

The 11,000 number is an estimate based on the 500-1000 people laid off and an expected 10,000 future jobs if there were no restrictions on the pipeline.

I know it is being used as a political point to justify laying off so many government workers - but the number is purposely deceptive and not accurate.

 

Treasury watchdog begins audit of Musk DOGE team’s access to the US government’s payment system

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General on Friday said it was launching an audit of the security controls for the federal government’s payment system, as Democratic lawmakers raised red flags about the access provided to Trump aide Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team.

The audit will also review the past two years of the system’s transactions as it relates to Musk’s assertion of “alleged fraudulent payments,” according to a letter from Loren J. Sciurba, Treasury’s deputy inspector general, that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The audit marks part of the broader effort led by Democratic lawmakers and federal employee unions to provide transparency and accountability about DOGE’s activities under President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. The Musk team has pushed for access to the government’s computer systems and sought to remove tens of thousands of federal workers.

“We expect to begin our fieldwork immediately,” Sciurba wrote. “Given the breadth of this effort, the audit will likely not be completed until August; however, we recognize the danger that improper access or inadequate controls can pose to the integrity of sensitive payment systems. As such, if critical issues come to light before that time, we will issue interim updates and reports.”

Treasury’s inspector general began the audit before Democratic lawmakers asked for it. A. J. Altemus, acting counsel to the inspector general, said “our work is independently initiated” and standards dictate that the audit “must be non-partisan and objective. These standards remain unchanged.”

Tech billionaire Musk, who continues to control Tesla, X and SpaceX among other companies, claims to be finding waste, fraud and abuse while providing savings to taxpayers. Many of his claims are so far unsubstantiated. But there is a risk that his team’s aggressive efforts could lead to the failure of government computer systems and enable Musk and his partners to profit off private information maintained by the government.

The audit would overlap with increased pressure that the Trump administration is placing on inspectors general, presidential appointees who are supposed to serve as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of government power. In January, the administration fired several independent inspectors general at government agencies, a move that some members of Congress said violated federal oversight laws. The firings prompted a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in Washington that seeks to return the inspectors general to their jobs.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon led the push in the Senate for the inspector general office’s inquiry at the Treasury.

On Wednesday, Warren, Wyden and Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noting the inconsistencies in the accounts provided by his department about DOGE.

“Your lack of candor about these events is deeply troubling given the threats to the economy and the public from DOGE’s meddling, and you need to provide a clear, complete, and public accounting of who accessed the systems, what they were doing, and why they were doing it,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their letter.

Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also called on inspectors general to investigate DOGE and welcomed the Treasury audit.

“Elon Musk and DOGE can’t be allowed to creep on Americans’ most sensitive data as they operate in the shadows,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the committee’s ranking member. “This is an important step, and inspectors general must be free to pursue their investigations without interference.”

The Treasury Department provided conflicting information about DOGE’s access to the payment system. Initially, it claimed the access was read only, only to then acknowledge that a DOGE team member briefly had the ability to edit code, and then to say in an employee-sworn statement that the ability to edit was granted by accident.

The 25-year-old employee granted the access, Marko Elez, resigned this month after racist posts were discovered on one of his social media accounts, only for Musk to call for his rehiring with the backing of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Earlier this week, the Treasury declined to brief a pair of the highest-ranking lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee, including Wyden, on the controversy related to DOGE’s use of Treasury payment systems, citing ongoing litigation.

Advocacy groups and labor unions have filed lawsuits over DOGE’s potentially unauthorized access to sensitive Treasury payment systems. Five former treasury secretaries have sounded the alarm on the risks associated with Musk’s DOGE access.

A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by Democratic state attorneys general seeking to prevent DOGE from accessing Treasury Department data.

Judge Jeannette Vargas said she’d issue a decision at a later date and a temporary restraining order imposed by a prior judge would remain in place until then.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that Treasury and DOGE staffers were acting appropriately.

“There was nothing unlawful about Treasury carrying out the priorities of a new administration using Treasury employees,” said Jeffrey Oestericher, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. “They were perfectly within their lawful duties.”

But Vargas at times pushed back at the federal government’s arguments that adequate protections were in place, noting that the plans were set in motion only in a matter of weeks. “Why so rushed?” she asked.

Lawyers for the Democratic attorneys general argued there was no effort to remove or redact private individual information and no evidence that DOGE staff were given proper training on how to handle such sensitive data.


“States have had their bank account information accessed by people with no reason to access it,” said Andrew Amer of the New York attorney general’s office.


https://apnews.com/article/treasury...sk-democrats-d1e2710d0b63f54a8c1fe50fe4f23d4d

 

You answered my question without answering it. TDS

If anybody else was cutting waste, fraud would you be against what's happening?

 

My research said around 11,000 and a possible 60,000. I can tell you for sure being friends with people in the industry the 500-1000 number is incorrect.

 

There isn't really anything to research.

500-1,000 workers lost their jobs.

The claim of 10,000-11,000 is based on what the industry said that they WOULD hire if there were not any restrictions on the pipeline by Biden.

I am not really even defending Biden - I am simply saying the talking point that Biden laid off 11,000 pipeline workers is patently false.

The claim that he erased 10,000-11,000 future jobs is true.

 

You are the epitome of a braindead cultist. You have nothing but BS to say because you can't accept the fact that you've been conned by a pathological lying con man in a suit. Keep repeating his BS and lies to some other gullible fool in a MAGA hat at the next Trump rally, and be sure and buy a bunch of those tacky Trump souvenirs, while you gather and say you all stick it to the libs as Trump sticks it right back to you with a smile, on his way to the bank. You guys would probably stand in line to wipe his butt for a hundred dollars apiece.

 

TC Energy Corp., the Canadian company that owns the Keystone XL pipeline with the Alberta government, has said more than 1,000 people are out of work because of Biden’s executive order. The 11,000 and $2 billion figures cited in the Facebook post are estimates published by the company, but most of the jobs would be temporary.

https://www.statesman.com/story/new...executive-order-cancel-fact-check/6673822002/

 

Correct - the 11,000 are jobs that they were going to add or planned to add according to the company that wanted the pipeline open.

 

There's too many meteorologists at the national weather service - weather never hurt anyone - let's let a bunch of teenage Nazis and their drug addict boss fire them all




Sure yes this is what the people voted for - everyone mandated this

 

@El_Conquistador @Space Ghost @Salvy @CrixusTheUndefeatedGaul

Care to comment?

 

about what

 

About why DOGE fired so many meteorologists? Do you think its a good idea?

 

How would I know? I'm not in the industry

 

I have to imagine there are better meteorologists than the ones who work for the federal government. They can leave and we can save our taxpayer dollars. You don't have to rely on the federal government for this service. Rely on the private sector.

Also, many Latina weather presenters/meteorologists are also Onlyfans content creators. Are the meteorologists who work for the federal government also content creators? I doubt it.


GOOD DAY

 

You took away their government weatherman! People are going to die! LOL -- what a nonsensical argument. No one is dying because the government weatherman left. There are plenty of ways to source weather news without the US government providing it.


CUT GOVERNMENT WASTE TO THE BONE

 

Ask when hurricane season gets underway, right now their king is still in the honeymoon phase.

 

It said 11,000 when I googled it up and there were more than 1,000 working on the project when it was shutdown.

 

I googled how many people lost their jobs when the Keystone Pipeline project was shutdown, google's answer was 11,000.