Senators spar over DOGE access to Treasury payment systems 

Democratic and Republican senators publicly sparred Wednesday over billionaire Elon Musk and his allies at the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) reported access to a sensitive federal payment system at the Treasury Department. 

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee repeatedly voiced concerns about the risks associated with allowing outside individuals into the Treasury system, leading to charged exchanges with and heated responses from their Republican counterparts. 

“If any of your institutions suddenly let somebody into your payment system that had no background in banking, that had no understanding of money flows, that suddenly gets an ability without any screening to look at all of your customers personal banking information, I believe that would cause reputational risk,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said at Tuesday’s hearing. 

“That’s exactly what’s happening in the United States Treasury at this moment in time,” he continued. 

A top Treasury official, David Lebryk, retired last week after clashing with Musk allies as they sought access to the Treasury system known as the Fiscal Service that handles 90 percent of federal payments, sparking outcry from Democrats. 

“Come on, guys, this is about the full faith and credit of the United States,” Warner added. “It is about our reputation in the world.” 

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Banking Committee, pushed back on Warner’s comments, reading from a Treasury letter responding to the concerns Tuesday. The department said a review of the payments system is underway, emphasizing that staff members will have “read-only” access to the information. 

Staff members are working with Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software Group whom the Treasury letter described as an “expert/consultant” hired as a “special government employee.” 

Warner pressed Scott on Tuesday whether he knew the identity and security clearance status of the individuals working on the Treasury payment system. 

“Do you know the identity of these individuals?” Warner said. “Mr. Krause is a known quantity, and he’s got security clearance. The other individuals, who’ve been reported in the press, do they have security clearance? Do you want that individual without a security clearance to have access to all that information.” 

Scott suggested similar questions existed under the previous administration.

“Under the Biden administration, we had no clue who was doing what most of the time,” he said.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) sought to turn Republicans’ focus on former President Biden on its head in urging lawmakers to “stand together” on the issue. 

“Now, I hear my colleagues all the time invoking former President Biden for all the bad things,” she said. “If he had done this, I know my colleagues would be the first to call it out, and we would be with, I would be with you. I would be with you.” 

She and other Democrats also seemed keen to separate their concerns about access to the Treasury system from DOGE’s stated intention of improving government efficiency. 

“We can and we should be identifying waste, fraud and abuse,” Cortez Masto said. However, she added, “We should be doing it without giving a private, unelected citizen access to the federal treasury payment system that contains personal information of US citizens.” 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) emphasized Musk’s particular role in the payment system turmoil, calling it a “big heist of personal information” and an “abuse of power.” 

“I would hope all of our colleagues, regardless of party, would want to know what is happening to this incredibly sensitive information that’s just been turned in, turned over to somebody who happened to contribute over $250 million to President Trump’s reelection efforts,” Van Hollen said.  

Musk has become a close personal ally of Trump since pouring millions into boosting the president’s 2024 campaign.  

As DOGE chair, he has been given wide latitude to make sweeping changes to the executive branch, including moving to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

However, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) touted the tech billionaire’s deep involvement in the cost-cutting process Tuesday. 

“I have to just state this hair-on=fire outrage by our Democratic friends over a successful businessman giving his time — away from his business I might add — to look at the books of the federal government to identify waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiencies is some sort of a crime, while Mr. Ring’s bank has never met a regulator that has a business background or banking background,” he said. “The irony is really quite rich.” 

“I think we should have a few more business people looking at our federal books,” Cramer added. 

Mike Ring, CEO and co-founder of Old Glory Bank, was testifying to the committee about debanking — the closure of bank accounts that financial institutions consider risky, often with little or no notice. However, the topic was at times overshadowed by the debate over the Treasury system. 

Updated at 2:23 p.m. EST