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u.s. treasury department
'DOGE-Affiliated Goons' Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases
"Congress famously has the power of the purse," wrote one expert. "But it looks like DOGE is trying to snatch it."
Jan 31, 2025
Reporting Friday that aides to Elon Musk—the billionaire backer of Republican President Donald Trump who runs the Department of Government Efficiency—locked career civil servants out of computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal employees raised alarms among observers who said the move is consistent with the administration's efforts to assert authoritarian control over the federal government.
An unnamed official at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) toldReuters that "we have no visibility" into what Musk aides "are doing with the computer and data systems," and "that is creating great concern."
"There is no oversight," the official said, adding that "it creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."
No one elected Musk and he holds no official position—and yet: “Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the US government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees” www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...
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— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath.bsky.social) January 31, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The Reuters report came on the same day that The Washington Post reported that David Lebryk, who has worked in nonpolitical positions at the U.S. Treasury Department since the George H.W. Bush administration, will retire following "a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems."
As the Post noted:
Run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the sensitive systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to households, businesses, and more nationwide. Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people across the country rely on the systems, which are responsible for distributing Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients, and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.
The clash reflects an intensifying battle between Musk and the federal bureaucracy as the Trump administration nears the conclusion of its second week. Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration, which manages real estate.
On Friday, the Trump administration ordered the General Services Administration to create a plan to slash 50% from the independent agency's budget, according to journalist Ken Klippenstein, who reported senior officials were left looking "shell-shocked'" by the directive.
Lebryk's announcement underscored what critics have warned is an aggressive push by Musk and other unelected Trump acolytes to sideline civil servants as part of an agenda in which MAGA sycophants are empowered to weaken government checks and balances and ensure total loyalty to the president, who has repeatedly flirted with authoritarianism.
In a Friday article highlighting Lebryk's announcement, Gizmodo's Matt Novak reported that "while it's not clear why [Department of Government Efficiency] wants access, experts are alarmed because there's basically no plausible explanation that doesn't involve tinkering with critical government functions by sidestepping Congress."
"Lebryk's departure is apparently related to the interference by DOGE-affiliated goons to access these payment systems," Novak asserted.
Common Dreamsreported earlier this week that Trump loyalists in the OPM and Office of Management and Budget associated with Project 2025—the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a far-right takeover of the federal government—are leading a sweeping effort to purge career civil servants and replace them with officials who will do the president's bidding without question.
Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, toldReuters Friday that "this makes it much harder for anyone outside Musk's inner circle at OPM to know what's going on."
Despite its name, DOGE is a presidential advisory committee, not a federal department—and critics including Novak have accused the billionaire Trump supporter of reaching "his tentacles into virtually every agency."
"Congress famously has the power of the purse," he wrote. "But it looks like DOGE is trying to snatch it."
Earlier this week, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, warned that Trump "is trying every trick he and his Project 2025 cronies can think of to circumvent established civil service protections so they can purge the civil service of experts and replace them with political loyalists."
"The victims here, as is always the case with Donald Trump, are the American people who will see government services and benefits allocated not by nonpartisan civil servants, but by partisan hacks," Connolly added.
Mark Mazur, who served in senior Treasury Department roles during the Obama and Biden administrations, told the Post Friday that the prospect of government officials using the federal payments system in service of personal political motives is without precedent.
"It's never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda," Mazur stressed. "You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case."
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Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in US Funds
"Elon Musk, who NO ONE VOTED FOR, wants to mess with our earned benefits," said one advocacy group. "Hell no."
Jan 31, 2025
President Donald Trump has claimed the spending cuts he proposes won't impact Medicare and Social Security, but new reporting on the sudden departure of the U.S. Treasury Department's highest-ranking career official after a dispute over the payment systems that distribute those benefits sparked concern that Trump's billionaire backer, Elon Musk, could have plans for the popular programs relied on by millions of Americans.
The Washington Post reported Friday that David Lebryk, who has served in numerous high-level roles at the Treasury Department since 1989 and was temporarily named acting treasury secretary by Trump before the confirmation this week of his nominee, Scott Bessent, would soon leave the department.
According to the newspaper, Lebryk has clashed with allies of Musk, whom Trump has named to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), over access to payment systems that the agency uses to distribute more than $6 trillion annually to households and businesses.
Social Security and Medicare benefits, paychecks for federal employees, and payments to government contractors and grant recipients all flow through the payment systems run by the Bureau of Fiscal Service, among thousands of other functions.
Since Trump won the election in November, officials Musk has named as DOGE staffers have been asking for access to the payment systems, and the demands have been reiterated since the president took office last week, the Post reported.
Mark Mazur, who served in the department under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said the push for access to the systems from an advisory committee aligned with a partisan agenda suggests "bad intentions" from Musk and his allies.
"This is a mechanical job—they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever," said Mazur. "It's not one where there's a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they're due. It's never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda."
Since Trump's inauguration, the new administration has signaled its desire to disrupt government funding of long-established programs, most notably when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo directing federal agencies to "pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance."
That memo, which was later rescinded, raised alarm about a freeze on the funding of programs like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and Medicaid.
The executive order that created DOGE last week ordered agencies to ensure the advisory body has "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems." DOGE's push for access to the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems suggests that it also wants control of those mechanisms.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, said the dispute that led to Lebryk's imminent departure showed that "the Trump administration's claims that they won't touch Social Security and Medicare are obviously lies."
"Musk and his DOGE cronies are already demanding unprecedented access to the payment system that distributes these funds and are ousting any civil servant who gets in their way," said Owens. "It's barely been two weeks and Musk has already caused a level of chaos and inefficiency we've never before seen in government."
The idea that "good government technocrats could work with Musk and DOGE to improve technology and services" has been proven to be "all grift," added Owens in a post on Musk's social media platform, X.
While advocates and lawmakers have said DOGE could work to reduce military spending, which has risen by 50% since the beginning of the 21st century and hit $820 billion in 2023 despite the Pentagon failing seven consecutive audits, the Trump administration has appeared laser-focused in its first weeks on addressing spending that impacts millions of low-income and working Americans.
"Elon Musk, who NO ONE VOTED FOR, wants to mess with our earned benefits," said Social Security Works, an advocacy group that works to protect the benefit for retired Americans. "Hell no."
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Climate-Fueled Insurance Cost Hikes Putting American Dream 'Out of Reach'
"Policymakers across the country should see this data as a blaring warning that they can no longer ignore the alarm bells of a climate-driven financial crisis," said one advocate.
Jan 17, 2025
As communities across the Los Angeles area continued to grapple with catastrophic wildfires, the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday released the most far-reaching report ever on the climate emergency's impact on home insurance—shedding light on how disasters like the one devastating Southern California this month could increasingly push U.S. families toward financial ruin.
More than three years after President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the Federal Insurance Office to assess "the potential for major disruptions of private insurance coverage in regions of the country particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts," the FIO released an analysis showing that homeowner insurance costs are rapidly rising across the U.S.—8.7% faster than the rate of inflation in 2018-22.
During that period, homeowners in the 20% of ZIP codes in coastal areas and other regions vulnerable to climate disasters faced insurance premiums that averaged $2,321—82% higher than people in the ZIP codes with the lowest risk.
"Climate change is already increasing our cost of living—and it's only going to get worse," said Steven Rattner, an investor and New York Times opinion writer.
For a growing number of homeowners, rising insurance costs have led to a cost-benefit analysis that puts them at risk for financial ruin, as they have given up on keeping current with their payments.
Analyzing 246 million insurance policies issued by 330 insurers nationwide from 2018-22, the FIO found that insurers canceled at least 10% of policies in 2022 due to nonpayment. Cancellation rates were highest in hurricane-prone areas such as Hilton Head, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as well as places that are vulnerable to increasingly fast-moving wildfires like California and Arizona.
During the time period analyzed, five wildfires in the Southwest caused more than $100 million in damages, with homeowners claiming an average of $27,000.
"While insurance companies will no doubt find ways to profit from the crisis, households across the country cannot sustain rising costs indefinitely."
"Treasury's analysis comes at a time of devastating tragedy, loss of life, and destruction from the wildfires in the Los Angeles area," said Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. "While it's far from clear what the exact financial costs of this disaster will be, it is a stark reminder of the impacts of the growing magnitude of natural disasters on the U.S. economy."
"This report identifies alarming trends of rising costs of insurance—to consumers and insurers themselves—as well as lack of availability of insurance, all of which threaten the long-term prosperity of American families," Yellen added.
In other words, said Carly Fabian, senior insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen's Climate Program, the climate-fueled insurance crisis is helping to push the American Dream of home ownership "out of reach" for a growing number of families.
"This report shows exactly what we feared: Climate change is creating an insurance crisis for households across the country. For many Americans, home ownership is a key part of the American Dream," said Fabian. "While insurance companies will no doubt find ways to profit from the crisis, households across the country cannot sustain rising costs indefinitely."
In 2022, Public Citizen joined more than 75 consumer advocacy and environmental justice groups in calling on the Treasury Department to promptly follow Biden's executive order and collect data on how the climate emergency is affecting homeowners.
"While this report is an essential step, it is only a first window into the data necessary to monitor this crisis," said Fabian. "The fact that the Federal Insurance Office had to be the first to propose collecting and now publishing this data shows the utter failure of the fragmented state regulatory system to protect the public. In the aftermath of the fires in Los Angeles and the devastation in Asheville [from Hurricane Helene], policymakers across the country should see this data as a blaring warning that they can no longer ignore the alarm bells of a climate-driven financial crisis."
The Los Angeles fires this month could ultimately cost as much as $275 billion, AccuWeatherreported this week, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed this month that from 2018-22, 84 billion-dollar climate disasters—excluding floods, which are typically not covered by home insurance—cost more than $609 billion. The costs of such events have continued rising since 2022.
Climate reporter Kate Aronoff of The New Republic likened the burgeoning home insurance crisis to the for-profit health insurance industry, in which corporate consolidation is also pushing premiums higher and contributing to medical debt that's owed by about 20 million people.
"Everyone gets sick. Dealing with that's a nightmare even if you have good coverage," said Aronoff. "Not everyone's house will burn down or flood but [there are] some real parallels in terms of human tragedy and suffering being mediated through an infuriating for-profit bureaucracy with haphazard public backing."
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