In the first two weeks of Donald Trumpâs presidency, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have reportedly gained access to core parts of the American governmentâs payment systems, including systems that affect Social Security and Medicare benefits â as federal workers and government officials struggle to respond.
DOGE, an unofficial âdepartmentâ which Trump declared part of the US Digital Service, is purportedly tasked with cutting government waste. Musk has turned that mission into a broad gutting of federal agencies, including offering federal workers months of paid leave billed as âdeferred resignation.â But things ramped up even more over the weekend, as Musk and his associates forced out civil servants who refused access to sensitive data and computer systems.
The news started on Friday with the departure of a Treasury Department top career official. David Lebryk announced his retirement after clashing with Musk surrogates about accessing a payment system that disburses trillions of dollars for federal worker salaries, Social Security, and Medicare, according to The Washington Post. On Saturday, The New York Times reported that Musk now …
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