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greg casar
Elon Musk Targets Programs for 'Poorest Children on Earth' While Getting Billions in Federal Contracts
"Elon loves corporate welfare for himself, rugged individualism for the poor," wrote a top adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Feb 12, 2025
Critics are pointing out the hypocrisy of billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to slash federal spending and personnel when he himself is a major beneficiary of the government's largesse, to the tune of over $10 billion dollars in federal contracts for his various companies over the past five years.
Meanwhile, Musk and representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency—with the blessing of U.S. President Donald Trump—have infiltrated multiple federal agencies in service of carrying out punishing cuts. One DOGE's first victims was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the single largest provider of humanitarian assistance worldwide.
The hollowing out of USAID—which aid organizations warn will have a "catastrophic impact" on children worldwide—is currently tied up in litigation. Separately, the administration has implemented a near-total freeze on foreign aid spending.
"While Elon Musk, the wealthiest man alive, is illegally denying food for the poorest children on Earth, SpaceX received another $38 million supplemental federal contract yesterday paid for by your taxes," wrote Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Wednesday.
"Elon loves corporate welfare for himself, rugged individualism for the poor," he added.
Gunnels post appears to reference reporting from the Lever, which wrote Tuesday that Musk's aerospace firm SpaceX secured "a new 'supplemental' contract dated February 10 [that] adds $7.5 million to SpaceX's NASA work... The overall transaction obligated $38 million to Musk's company, as part of its overall deal with NASA."
Meanwhile, during the first meeting of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on Wednesday, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) made comments in a similar vein.
"Last year, Elon Musk was promised $3 billion from close to 100 contracts with the federal government," said Casar, who went on to say that Musk makes "$8 million a day," referencing his federal contracts, while the average person in this country who receives Social Security has to make ends meet on $65 a day.
"When Republicans talk about government efficiency in this Congress, they're not looking into billionaires who don't pay their taxes, they're not looking into billionaires who get rich off of government contracts... They're looking at cutting your public schools, they're going straight for your Social Security, they're coming straight for cancer research," he said.
Casar also lambasted a draft budget resolution unveiled by House Republicans on Wednesday that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy, while proposing $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other programs.
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'I'm 100% Certain,' Says Top Dem, That Musk 'Looking for an Excuse to Cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid'
"We have one simple message," said another lawmaker: "Keep your hands off."
Feb 11, 2025
Amid fears that U.S. President Donald Trump's government-gutting billionaire adviser, Elon Musk, will target Social Security, elected officials, advocates, workers, and beneficiaries of the federal program for seniors and people with disabilities held a Monday rally in Maryland.
"We have one simple message, which is: Elon Musk, keep your hands off of our Social Security!" declared U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). He took aim at not only the chair of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency but also his "DOGE crew," warning of Musk and his minions "conducting illegal raids on federal agencies" in what other critics have called a "hostile corporate takeover of American democracy."
The senator pointed out that "they have accessed highly sensitive personal information on Americans at the Department of Treasury, including Social Security numbers, bank accounts, and other very sensitive information," and "worked to shut down a number of federal agencies," including the U.S. Agency for International Development and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He also highlighted DOGE attacks on the U.S. Department of Education and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and reporting that "their next stop" is the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The rally at SSA headquarters was organized after Semaforreported Thursday that the agency "is an upcoming focus" of the Musk-led panel. As the outlet put it: "DOGE's interest in trying to root out fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, and perhaps soon in cutting at the Social Security Administration, suggests that government programs once seen as untouchable may be on the table."
Reporting on the rally, Newsweeknoted that "Trump has pushed back on the narrative that the popular benefits will be slashed, saying when asked if there are limits on what Musk can examine, 'Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened.'"
"Trump has not made any official cuts to Social Security since taking office," the outlet added, "but amid his administration's attempted overhaul of government agencies and spending, the Social Security Administration could face personnel losses in terms of layoffs or administrative funding without cuts directly to Social Security payments."
Further fueling fears of DOGE-led attacks, Musk wrote on his social media platform X earlier Tuesday: "At this point, I am 100% certain that the magnitude of the fraud in federal entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, etc) exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you've ever heard by FAR. It's not even close."
To this message, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), fired back: "At this point I'm 100% certain that Elon Musk is looking for an excuse to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Fire Elon Musk."
In response to Semafor's reporting last week, Social Security Works, an advocacy group, warned that Trump was "empowering Elon Musk to play Russian roulette with our earned benefits."
The organization's communications director, Linda Benesch, told Common Dreams that "the Social Security Administration is already understaffed and underresourced. Musk and his gang of teenagers want to make this crisis worse, and make it harder for Americans to get the benefits they've earned."
"They may also intentionally or unintentionally break the technology SSA uses to calculate benefits," Benesch added. "We suggest that everyone go to SSA.gov and download a copy of their Social Security statement right away so that there's a record of what they've earned."
Speakers at the Monday rally slammed Trump and Musk's attempts to purge the federal workforce. U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said that "we are standing in front of a building that represents thousands of Marylanders who have been coming to work in this building—civil servants for over 60 years now who have been coming to this building, doing the essential work of processing Social Security checks for nearly 72 million Americans."
"When we think about the servants who stand in this building and buildings all across our country, these are men and women who come to work every day—and these are not Democratic jobs or Republican jobs, these are American jobs," she continued. "It is also the case that those who have served in this building do so no matter who the president is. Many of them have served for decades, under Republican presidents, under Democratic presidents—again, because they serve the people."
"When you target civil servants, you also target the people they serve," Alsobrooks stressed. "They serve our grandmothers, our grandfathers, our mothers and fathers—like mine—our friends, our neighbors, and family members with disabilities who rely on Social Security."
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In Rousing Press Conference, Progressive Democrats Say It's Time to 'Fire Elon Musk'
"It's time for all of us to get off the mat and get back in the ring. We're going to fight smarter. We are going to fight harder," the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said.
Feb 06, 2025
"We're here to say with one voice: Fire Elon Musk," said Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, kicking off a Congressional Progressive Caucus press conference on Thursday which brought some of the fighting spirit that Democrats have been accused of lacking in recent weeks.
Caucus members gave remarks denouncing billionaire and GOP megadonor Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency has infiltrated multiple federal agencies with the aim of carrying out cuts to spending and personnel, for engaging in an "illegal power grab." Casar, who is the chair of the caucus, told reporters that they would use "every legislative, judicial, and public pressure tool at [their] disposal as members of Congress" in an effort to get rid of Musk.
"Many Democrats need a time to soul search, to grieve, to think, but that time has ended," Casar said. "It's time for all of us to get off the mat and get back in the ring. We're going to fight smarter. We are going to fight harder."
Musk and his associates at DOGE now have moved to exert influence over agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Treasury Department. The Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday that representatives at DOGE have also secured access to key payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and are "searching agency payment systems for fraud."
Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) called out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for failing to have the "courage to stand up and defend the integrity of the legislative branch" in the face of Musk and Trump's broadsides against federal agencies, which in some cases appear illegal. "This is not only unethical, it is illegal and unconstitutional," she said.
Representatives of the caucus also said that there will be an attempt to pressure Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, which has a Republican majority, to join Democrats in subpoenaing Musk to come testify before the panel. Ranking member of the committee, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), brought a motion on Wednesday to subpoena Musk to testify before the committee which failed in a 20-19 vote along party lines, according to Politico.
"We only lost that vote by one vote," said Casar. "We just need to pressure, in that case, just one Republican to have a spine and be willing to hear from Elon Musk."
Meanwhile, the day before the press conference, over 100 civil society groups sent a letter to congressional leaders demanding that Congress immediately act to investigate the full extent of actions taken by Musk and representatives at DOGE.
The groups that signed the letter include the labor union SEIU, the environmental group Greenpeace USA, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and others.
"Millions of Americans are likely to be harmed if Elon Musk and DOGE are allowed to continue to infiltrate and take over critical government systems," the according to the letter, which says Congress should probe whether Musk and associates at DOGE have violated multiple temporary restraining orders issued by district courts in response to a late January memo from the Office of Management and Budget attempting to freeze funding for federal grants and other programs, among other concerns.
"What we have seen from Elon Musk and DOGE indicates an astounding disregard for the law," the letter concludes.
The Trump administration, Musk, and DOGE are facing resistance in court. Yesterday, the AFL-CIO and four unions filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against DOGE and acting Labor Secretary Vince Micone aimed at keeping DOGE out of the Department of Labor. Two unions and an advocacy group sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Treasury Department on Monday for giving DOGE access to a sensitive payment system, citing privacy concerns.
Also Wednesday, thousands turned out for grassroots-organized, anti-Trump rallies around the United States.
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