Democratic congressional lawmakers on Tuesday gathered to passionately voice opposition to Elon Musk's access to a Treasury Department office responsible for disbursing payments, days after they were told to punch back against the Trump administration.
The House lawmakers have come out against Musk after he was granted access to a Treasury department called the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which disburses trillions in payments each year, including Social Security checks and federal salaries, through DOGE, which is tasked with reducing federal spending.
"Shut down the city! We are at war!" U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., shouted into a microphone as supporters cheered during a rally hosted by the MoveOn Civic Action, Indivisible and the Working Families Party.
"We will not take this. We will fight back."
Mclver called for protesters to "shut down the city."
"Anytime a person can pay $250 million into a campaign, and they be given full access to the Department of the Treasury of the United States of America, we are at war," she said.
Over the weekend, Musk cited "fraudulent" Treasury payments in a post on X.
"The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups," he wrote. "They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once."
Trump said Musk has authority to let "go of people he thinks are no good if I agree with him."
The president noted that Musk can't stop Treasury payments on his own.
"Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval," Trump said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.
In a letter Tuesday to federal lawmakers, a Treasury Department official said a tech executive working with Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will have "read-only access" to the government's payment system.
The letter was sent because of concerns from members of Congress that DOGE's involvement with the payment system for the federal government could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
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However, some Democrats aren't convinced DOGE and Musk have read-only access.
"Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has ‘viewing access’ to Treasury’s highly sensitive payment system as if that’s acceptable either," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, D-Fla., said he had concerns about Musk having control over taxpayer funds.
"He has access to all of our information, our Social Security numbers, the federal payment system, which means he is calling the shots on our taxpayer money," he said. "There is absolutely no oversight as to what he is doing. What is to stop him from stealing taxpayer money? Nothing."
The protest came after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pledged that Democrats would fight President Donald Trump's agenda "in the streets."
"Right now, we're going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working-class Americans across the country with the bill," Jeffries said last week.
