Musk vows to 'rapidly shut illegal' grants after DOGE gains access to US Treasury payment system

The world’s richest man Elon Musk has vowed to unilaterally cancel millions of dollars worth of government grants after his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team gained access to review the US Treasury’s vast payment system. The move has already prompted the sudden resignations of one of the department’s most senior officials while some others have been put on leave after they objected to DOGE gaining access to classified information.

The Tesla CEO who bankrolled US President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential elections, was tasked with running the “cost-cutting” department. On Sunday, he boasted on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is “rapidly shutting down illegal payments”. The remarks from the billionaire came after a list of grants to Lutheran organisations was posted online.

The threats came after Musk confirmed the reports on Saturday that DOGE has gained access to the Treasury payment system which is known for distributing trillions of dollars each year, including social security payments. He went on to justify the move by claiming that his team has discovered “that payment approval officers at Treasury were always instructed to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups."

Can Musk really cut payments?

It is pertinent to note that the Treasury Department already has an in-house team tasked with identifying fraudulent payments. A source close to the matter told The Financial Times that the representatives from DOGE do not have the authority to cut payments they can only read data.

Condemnation soon poured in, once Musk confirmed the reports. Senator Ron Wyden, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate finance committee, said his office had been told that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had granted DOGE “full” access to the system. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” he said in a statement.

Wyden said that he has written to Bessent demanding answers regarding the grounds on which Musk’s team was granted access to the payment system. “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems," he added.

Amid the chaos, David Lebryk, who had spent more than 36 years in government and had briefly run the Treasury while Bessent was awaiting confirmation, resigned abruptly on Friday. Lebryk was responsible for overseeing the operation of the department’s financial infrastructure.

With inputs from agencies.