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House Dems Deliver Brutal Takedown Of "Conflict-Riddled" Billionaire Elon Musk And DOGE · Elon Musk Podcast

0:05
Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
0:08
I'm your host, Will Walden, and if you're new here, this is a
0:11
show all about Elon Musk. It is groundbreaking work that
0:14
he's doing with his various companies, including Tesla,
0:17
SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neurolink, and of course, X.
0:21
And before we dive into today's episode, I wanted to share a
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But that means that 55% of you are not.
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1:00
for the show Elon Musk News. Thank you.
1:03
Mr. Speaker, I am a stand in. This is actually Marcy Captors a
1:07
one hour. She's tied up in a hearing and
1:10
so I'll try to do my best to lay it out.
1:15
She was going to speak for 7 minutes on the issues of the
1:19
Trump administration's dismantling of the federal
1:22
government and the hiring of, or I guess the acquiescence of Elon
1:29
Musk as the principal agent of destruction.
1:35
What has happened over the last 17 days is an extraordinary
1:40
display of contempt for the American government.
1:48
If you think about this in his totality, right off the start,
1:56
all funding stopped. What does that mean to the
2:01
programs that Americans depend upon?
2:04
Healthcare, education, research, infrastructure programs?
2:12
For what purpose was that done? Perhaps to set up the next step,
2:17
which is the dismantling of extraordinary important programs
2:21
for me and for my wife. More than almost 58 years ago,
2:28
we participated in the USAID program, which at that time was
2:32
just four years old, set up by Kennedy, a vaccination program,
2:40
an effort of the United Nations funded by the American
2:45
government, USAID to eradicate smallpox.
2:50
We spent a month in rural Ethiopia doing vaccinations.
2:54
And then as our life moved on, we continued working to provide
2:58
the necessary services so that people could survive.
3:02
The Food for Peace program, Patty actually ran that when she
3:05
was at USDA as an assistant administrator.
3:09
The famine camps, we were there. We saw the children that were
3:16
dying to starvation and we saw the American grain arrive.
3:21
I remember clearly one evening at the famine camp in Ethiopia
3:27
in the mid 80s, a woman literally in rags, picking up
3:34
individual grains of wheat that had spilled from the bags,
3:42
trying to fill a cup so that there would be enough food that
3:45
she could take back to her children.
3:49
They died that night of starvation.
3:54
The richest man in the world invested over $250 million in a
4:02
presidential campaign, and he was given the keys to the
4:08
American government and the opportunity to destroy things
4:13
that he didn't like. USAID not only providing the
4:23
necessary food to allow people to continue to live, but also to
4:28
thrive. Programs, agricultural programs,
4:32
economic development programs around the world, people that
4:38
didn't have the opportunity, we're given it the opportunity
4:43
by the generosity of the American people.
4:48
And so when you have the greatest wealth of any
4:51
individual, you seem to think you have the right to destroy
4:57
lives. Before you do that, Mr.
5:04
Chairman, before our president, give someone the power to do
5:09
that. I would ask them, get on your
5:13
private jet, get on Air Force One, go to one of the famine
5:17
camps in southern Sudan and hold a starving child in your arms.
5:29
Look at the extended belly, the vacant stare, not even able to
5:33
hold up the head, and know that the American people have
5:38
developed an emergency supplemental food program that
5:44
can revive that child. And then after you have done
5:49
that, come back and decide whether you want to put USAID
5:55
into the wood chopper. If you have just a modicum of
6:00
humanity and a sense of compassion, you would never,
6:07
never, ever take USAID and destroy it.
6:15
There are other programs out there, and we'll be talking
6:17
about these other programs as my colleagues join us here on the
6:21
floor. Education, Labor Department,
6:31
giving the richest man in the world the keys to the US
6:34
Treasury. What is going on here?
6:40
What information has been gathered?
6:43
Where did that information go? What will it be used for?
6:47
Who owns that information now, the US government or Elon Musk?
6:56
Serious questions. My colleagues and I will raise
6:59
these questions. I now turn to Mr. Caston, thank
7:05
you. Congressman Garamendi.
7:07
So last week my colleague Haley Stevens and I introduced the
7:11
Taxpayer Data Protection Act. We get to that in a minute.
7:16
I woke up this morning to find that apparently this bill has
7:19
gotten Mr. Musk's attention. So I would like to read to you
7:22
the tweet from that great statesman and special government
7:25
employee, Elon Musk. Any given law will do the
7:30
opposite of its name. One this guy wants to pass is
7:33
called the Taxpayer Protection, which means it's real goal is
7:36
giving taxpayers the shaft. What he really cares about is
7:39
hiding the biggest scam in human history.
7:43
Those are his words. A great statesman.
7:46
Elon Musk. I would point out to you that we
7:49
attack what we fear. As Teddy Roosevelt said, it's
7:52
the man in the ring who matters. So I'd like to give Mr. Musk a
7:56
little view from inside this ring.
8:00
Couple weeks ago, Elon Musk and his goons hacked into the
8:03
Treasury payment system. That is the system that controls
8:06
$5 trillion a year of payments. They came in with unsecured
8:11
software, unsecured hardware on vetted individuals.
8:16
They claim they only had read only access.
8:19
It now turns out that they actually had write access as
8:21
well. We don't know what information
8:24
they extracted from that system, but it may make them targets of
8:27
our foreign adversaries. They stole data, could have
8:31
stolen data. That affects the privacy of
8:35
every single American taxpayer. They also potentially access
8:39
data on the payment systems and identities of intelligence
8:43
assets that we have overseas, embedded and hostile foreign
8:46
governments who are risking their lives to keep America
8:49
safe. What this bill does is exactly
8:55
what it says it does. Notwithstanding this childish
8:58
tweet, it is the Taxpayer Data Protection Act.
9:03
I would point out that the only reason Mr. Musk got into the
9:05
system is because when he asked Treasury Secretary Besant to let
9:10
him into the system, the civil servant and patriot David
9:13
Leverick, who was running the system, said no, you cannot do
9:16
this. At which point Mr. Besant fired
9:18
Mr. Leverick and the theft of data occurred.
9:23
So what we did in this bill is said that going forward, the
9:26
Treasury Secretary cannot allow anybody to access the Treasury
9:30
payment system unless, number one, they have a top secret
9:33
current clearance #2 they have no economic conflicts of
9:36
interest #3 they are not a special government employee and
9:40
#4 they have been employed by the Federal government for at
9:42
least one year. That is a problem if you are a
9:51
Nazi saluting, economically conflicted special government
9:55
employee who is so desperately in need of validation that you
9:59
bought a social media company and tweaked its algorithm to
10:02
amplify your own tweets and fill your own sense of self worth who
10:06
is currently cosplaying as a public servant.
10:09
It's not a problem for taxpayers.
10:12
It's not a problem for data integrity.
10:15
And I understand protecting personal data has never been
10:18
Elon Musk's jam. But it is necessary.
10:24
And this bill does exactly what it says, which is why he fears
10:27
it. Which is why he attacks it.
10:29
Let me tell you what I fear. I fear what happens to our
10:33
country if his conflicts of interests are allowed to run
10:36
roughshod and trample over Americans right to privacy and
10:40
all that has ever truly made America great.
10:44
We're tacking what we fear as well, and I hope that we can
10:48
find 3 Republicans who are committed to the idea that that
10:51
is something worth defending. I yield back.
10:57
Thank you, Mr. Cast. And I now turn to the honorable
11:02
representative from the State of Florida.
11:08
Thank you. I thank the gentleman for for
11:11
yielding, and thank you to my fellow appropriator and friend
11:16
Marcy Kaptur for initiating and host and hosting this special
11:20
order hour, and to my friend Mr. Garamendi from California for
11:24
standing in for her. Because it is incredibly
11:27
disturbing that we must come together to condemn what should
11:30
be inherently obvious. Elon Musk was elected by no one,
11:36
confirmed by no one, and is accountable to no one.
11:41
Yet President Trump allows this conflict riddled billionaire to
11:45
rifle through Americans highly sensitive records and attack the
11:49
public servants who look out for all of us.
11:52
I've never witnessed such utter contempt for the Constitution
11:56
and the rule of law. It is clear who is running this
12:01
White House. It is Elon Musk whose nonstop
12:05
lies would leave human rights groups in Cuba and Venezuela out
12:10
to dry and victims of famine and natural disasters left to starve
12:15
or die. Donald Trump is allowing Musk to
12:19
illegally slash our efforts to counter dictators and protect
12:23
democracy. The man with billions on the
12:26
line in China, Trump and Musk are gutting agencies that are
12:32
investigating Musk's companies. You think that's coincidence?
12:38
And all while Donald Trump ignores what he committed to
12:40
prioritizing throughout the campaign, making everyday life
12:45
more affordable for everyone. Mr. Speaker, this chaos crew in
12:50
the White House is rocking the faith of Americans.
12:53
It's alienating allies and destabilizing our businesses.
12:57
It's trashing our ability to honor our commitments and
13:00
fulfill the basic functions of government.
13:03
My constituents are angry and afraid, and they should be.
13:08
It's understandable. Musk and his minions will gut
13:11
any program that doesn't line their own pockets.
13:15
These cruel, reckless cuts built on lies and illegal funding
13:20
freezes will devastate the children, veterans and seniors
13:24
that we Democrats fight for every day.
13:26
And worse, all this chaotic Republican RIP off will do is
13:31
raise grocery prices and healthcare costs for our
13:34
families. While Musk steals your child's
13:37
Social Security number, Trump is busy enacting policies that will
13:41
raise prices on everything from prescription drugs to affordable
13:44
housing. And as Musk digs through your
13:48
mom and dad's tax returns, he and Trump are gutting consumer
13:52
protections that keep scammers from ripping you off.
13:56
And all this is designed for one thing, to pay for more
14:01
millionaire and billionaire tax breaks and open the door to gut
14:04
Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
14:07
In fact, the Budget Committee is meeting right now as we speak to
14:12
do just that. They all get wealthier and the
14:16
lives of working families becomes even more unaffordable.
14:21
Mr. Speaker, we are not going to roll over and let this madness
14:24
continue. Every dollar illegally stolen
14:27
from our federal agencies must be restored.
14:31
We must continue to hold Trump and his billionaire friends
14:34
accountable. We are going to continue to
14:37
protect victims of scams and natural disasters.
14:40
Regardless of what Trump or his billionaire puppeteer proposes.
14:44
The Musk Trump unchecked raid of taxpayer dollars must end.
14:49
We must commit together to reduce people's everyday kitchen
14:56
table costs, and Democrats will stand up every single day to
15:00
fight to put lowering people's costs at the top of the agenda.
15:05
Thank you, and I yield back my time to the gentleman from
15:08
California. I thank the gentlelady from
15:13
Florida, and I'll now turn to Representative from the State of
15:18
Ohio, Mr. Lansman. Thank you very much.
15:21
And Mr. Speaker, I rise today to also talk about Elon Musk and to
15:26
ask the Speaker and my colleagues to follow the money.
15:32
Elon owns six companies, two of which are Tesla and SpaceX.
15:39
SpaceX alone has received something like $20 billion in
15:45
federal contracts, federal taxpayer dollars.
15:51
Tesla, when it was struggling to get off the ground, got a half a
15:55
billion dollar loan from the Department of Energy.
16:00
This is in addition to the billions that they have received
16:05
in tax credits and other supplements from the federal
16:09
government. He is not just the world's
16:14
richest man, but Elon Musk is trying to become the first
16:17
trillionaire in the history of the world.
16:23
Now Musk during the 2024 election gives over $200 million
16:33
to Trump and Republicans. It's a lot of money.
16:41
Trump wins and Elon, just weeks, not months after the election,
16:50
generates several $100 billion in new wealth making his way to
16:59
that trillion dollar number. He generated all that new wealth
17:03
because the markets knew that would Trump, He was going to
17:09
have access to even more of our money.
17:13
They knew he was going to get billions more in contracts,
17:21
billions more in federal subsidies.
17:29
And he is well on his way to expedite these efforts.
17:37
Trump empowers Musk moments after he's inaugurated.
17:45
Musk, an unelected tech billionaire.
17:51
He empowers him to take access of our personal data.
17:56
All of it. He gives him access to the
18:01
federal payment system. He gives them.
18:06
He gives him power to purge as many federal workers as he
18:09
possibly can, all in the name of waste, fraud and abuse.
18:15
Which in the end, it turns out to be somewhat accurate.
18:21
By the way, what happened with the data breach and the fact
18:25
that he now has access to all of our data is arguably the
18:29
greatest data breach in the history of the United States of
18:31
America. He has defunded federal
18:40
programs, purged public servants and stripped resources away from
18:46
government oversight, all while getting richer and richer at the
18:50
expense of the rest of us. And today, the State Department
18:57
said they plan to spend $400 million of our tax dollars to
19:04
purchase Tesla Cyber trucks. Why in the world would the
19:11
federal government buy one Tesla cyber truck, let alone $400
19:16
million of Tesla cyber trucks? Waste, fraud and abuse everyday.
19:27
Elon Musk makes $8 million from government contracts.
19:31
That number just went up. In comparison, seniors on Social
19:37
Security, they get $65 a day. The question that so many are
19:46
asking is how do you fight back against this waste, fraud and
19:51
abuse? And there is a playbook, Mr.
19:55
Speaker, it's the Constitution of the United States.
19:58
An Article 1 does not lay out the powers of the presidency or
20:04
the Supreme Court in the judiciary.
20:06
Article 1 lays out the powers of the Congress of the United
20:10
States. This Congress is responsible for
20:14
appropriating funds and oversight.
20:16
Of the federal government and holding the president
20:21
accountable. The founders envisioned this
20:24
moment. They didn't know that it would
20:25
come with a billionaire tech donor, but they envisioned this
20:29
moment. And with Republicans in control
20:34
of both the House and the Senate, they have to step up and
20:38
deal with this waste, fraud, and abuse.
20:42
With that I yield back. Thank you.
20:46
Mr. Lansman. Critical, important issues have
20:54
been raised in the last 20 minutes or so about the issues
20:59
of conflicts, of interest, of corruption, and of policy
21:05
mistakes that the current administration has put in motion
21:10
over the last 15-16 days. I want to draw the attention of
21:22
the House to this diagram. And this is just a display of
21:28
some of the contracts that Elon Musk has with the government.
21:35
In total, it's more than $15 billion.
21:41
But in each of these, there are some very subtle, very, very
21:46
subtle and ominous opportunities for corruption.
21:54
I want to point out just one In the Inflation Reduction Act and
21:59
in the Infrastructure JOBS Act, there's money for electric
22:07
vehicle charging stations. In fact, a substantial amount of
22:11
money. It turns out that Tesla has some
22:17
20,000 charging stations around the United States and has become
22:22
the principal a charging station connection to all electric
22:30
vehicles. If we were to shut down, excuse
22:34
me, if Elon Musk were to shut down the money for other
22:37
companies to build charging stations, he would then have a
22:41
monopoly Settle Well, but obvious to those of us who watch
22:50
my colleague talked to the issue of the State Department putting
22:54
out on its website a very specific $400 million purchase
22:59
order of just one vehicle, a Tesla cyber truck.
23:07
Corruption, yes. Waste, probably.
23:14
And here we are with an unelected individual who has
23:20
extraordinary power, in fact, the power of the presidency and
23:25
the presidency is misusing the power to shut down organizations
23:30
around this country. I would suggest that the
23:35
Democrats have a different view of government, have a different
23:39
view of purpose. Franklin Roosevelt once said the
23:43
test of our progress is not whether we add more to the
23:46
abundance of those who have much, is whether we provide
23:50
enough for those who have too little.
23:54
That test is now before the Congress of the United States.
24:00
Hard working families are struggling, dealing with
24:05
inflation, yet it appears as though the Trump administration
24:11
is going to focus on making the wealthier even more wealthy.
24:17
We need to think about this. And in the days ahead, I am
24:21
certain that our Democratic colleagues will put forth not
24:25
only a vigorous defense of the programs that Americans, and
24:31
indeed people around the world depend upon.
24:34
And we will do that together with men and women around this
24:38
nation who have seen the effect, in many case the tragic effect,
24:45
of the shutdown of government and the shutdown of agencies
24:50
upon which we all rely. And simultaneously, we will put
24:56
forth a positive agenda about what we stand for and how we see
25:03
America growing in the future. Mr. Speaker, I noticed the
25:09
arrival of the esteemed lady from Ohio who had actually put
25:17
together this one hour. It's been a privilege for me to
25:21
stand as a substitute. She has now arrived.
25:25
And I turned my attention back to Marcy Kaptur and her one
25:31
hour. Thank you for the opportunity to
25:34
sub for a while while you were tied up in committee.
25:38
I know you had good work to do there.
25:41
Miss Captor, the floor is yours. I do some of the.
25:47
Speakers. Announced policy of January 3rd,
25:50
2025. The gentlewoman from Ohio, Miss
25:53
Captor, is recognized for the remainder of the hour as the
25:57
designee of the Minority Leader. Thank you very much.
26:01
Mr. Speaker. May I ask the time remaining?
26:05
The gentlewoman has 35 minutes remaining.
26:07
All right, thank you. And I want to thank Congressman
26:10
Garamendi, such a distinguished member, for substituting for me
26:14
while I was in our Budget committee.
26:16
And I know what a phenomenal job you do and how deeply you love
26:20
our country and how hard you fight for her and for all the
26:23
people that you represent, and those include my constituents to
26:26
your work is just phenomenal. Thank you for being here today,
26:31
Mr. Speaker. I wanted to focus a little on
26:33
Elon Musk and put some materials in the record.
26:37
He's an unelected billionaire with no federal clearance,
26:42
standing or sitting right next to the president of the United
26:45
States almost on a daily basis. Mr. Musk is so rich he could buy
26:50
my entire Congressional District and have lots leftover.
26:55
He spent millions upon millions, more than I and all of our
27:00
relatives are worth, to defeat House Democrats for Congress,
27:04
myself included. I couldn't come near to match
27:09
his money. He did the same to many of my
27:12
colleagues in this House, including some with us today.
27:17
Can you imagine having enough money to put millions and
27:20
millions of dollars up against members of Congress to control
27:27
Congress? That is what is going on.
27:30
Political victories to billionaires equate to the fall
27:35
of our Republic. Presidents Washington and
27:39
Lincoln could never have imagined this selling off of our
27:43
Republic. Musk has endless money.
27:47
He uses it fiercely. Some of us won despite the tidal
27:53
wave of his money. Politics shouldn't be about
27:57
raising oodles of money. It should be about serving our
28:01
people and strengthening our nation for all, not just the
28:06
Super rich. You know what?
28:09
They have enough. The America we have known is at
28:13
risk of becoming owned by a billionaire class.
28:19
If and when that happens, our precious freedoms will vanish.
28:26
Now, our family and I have been citizens of this country for our
28:29
entire lives, three generations totaling over a century and a
28:34
half. Grandparents, parents, and us.
28:39
Every generation worked very hard here.
28:41
It wasn't easy. They fought fiercely for our
28:45
nation as veterans in every major war, to defeat dictators,
28:51
to preserve liberty for our nation and others.
28:57
And then they bequeath that precious gift to us.
29:00
We all worked hard to become more educated.
29:06
Our family, community and nation are my treasures.
29:11
By contrast, Elon Musk holds citizenship in three countries,
29:16
South Africa, Canada and then for the last 22 years the USA.
29:24
I keep asking myself to which one is he most loyal?
29:31
He was born and raised in apartheid South Africa in a very
29:36
well to do circumstance. With the fall of that apartheid
29:40
regime not so many years ago, after a great human rights
29:44
struggle inside South Africa, his father knew that economic
29:48
circumstance would change in South Africa.
29:52
So he took Elon, then a teenager, to visit over a dozen
29:56
countries, including Canada, where Elon's mother still
30:00
resides. Elon took a second citizenship
30:03
in Canada. He obtained a visa then to
30:06
attend College in the United States as a foreign student,
30:11
graduating in economics and physics.
30:14
He then moved to Silicon Valley for Graduate School, but dropped
30:19
out after 2 days. They're still remaining some
30:23
questions as to whether he illegally overstayed in our
30:27
country on a student visa. Records show he's only been a
30:31
citizen of our country for 22 years, having become a citizen
30:36
in the year of 2002. Bottom line, why has President
30:41
Donald Trump just given a naturalized citizen with two
30:46
other citizenships and with no federal clearance and only 22
30:52
years of residency in our nation, the keys to the US
30:55
Treasury Department's electronic payment systems?
30:59
That data records every citizen's private financial
31:05
information and every business's private information across our
31:11
country must got the position completely without the normal
31:15
ethic investigations required of every political appointee to any
31:21
president. When I serve President Carter,
31:24
the FBII mean our records were checked people all the way back
31:27
to grade school. That was not done for this man.
31:31
The American people need to know more about exactly how now an
31:36
unelected billionaire built his fortune off federal government
31:40
contracts. In our Budget committee, a
31:42
number was just stated that he holds up to $18 billion of
31:47
contracts with the governor of the United States.
31:50
That began with a huge $465 million loan from the US
31:55
Department of Energy to launch Tesla in California.
31:59
Who exactly lobbied in that department for that loan, and
32:04
who and why was it accepted? We are told it was paid back.
32:10
Frankly, I have never known anyone who has gotten a loan
32:14
that large from the government of the United States for his
32:18
with his background. For the record, Elon Musk paid
32:22
that loan back over time but began increasing the amounts of
32:26
his gigantic loan and grant applications to the federal
32:29
government, with the largest thus far, we think, being with
32:34
NASA. Wouldn't we call this a conflict
32:38
of interest, my friends? Would we allow the head of GM or
32:44
any other large corporation in our country to sit next to the
32:49
President and go into the US Treasury and not say it was a
32:51
conflict of interest? Are we all fools and using his
32:55
financial leverage to re elect Donald Trump?
32:58
Musk should have been vetted by the FBI as is anyone who works
33:02
close to the presidency or critical government records.
33:06
It appears Musk simply has been leveraging his vast fortune off
33:10
government contracts. Is he rummaging through Treasury
33:14
files to gain an advantage over competitors or to seek vengeance
33:19
in business dealings? Just this year, he ordered the
33:22
State Department to buy $400 million worth of his own cyber
33:28
trucks. But when scrutiny came, the
33:30
purchase order mysteriously disappeared.
33:33
The word Tesla from their procurement orders.
33:38
How about that? Over the past five years alone,
33:41
he has received over 13 billion in government awards to his
33:47
company. I ask every member of Congress
33:50
here and listening, do you know any other human being who has
33:55
ever been allowed this kind of access with such private sector
33:59
interests and dipping into the US Treasury time and again
34:02
across all these agencies? It is unbelievable,
34:06
unbelievable. Conflict of interest equals Elon
34:12
Musk. He should not be able to invade
34:14
the private records of the American people at the US
34:17
Treasury. Yet he has done just that.
34:20
Every person hearing my words, your records, your tax records,
34:24
your business reports, think about that.
34:27
Think about the investments that Treasury makes in order to roll
34:31
over our debt. No one listening to this today,
34:34
nor any elected official here in Congress, could ever have gained
34:38
access to the records of the American people held in
34:41
confidence in the US Treasury. And I can tell you how difficult
34:44
it is even for a member of Congress to get an appointment
34:48
to see the secretary of Treasury.
34:50
We've been trying over the last several weeks.
34:53
We haven't gotten it yet with Musk.
34:57
What a breach of privacy for every American citizen.
35:02
One must ask how did he finagle this heist for the princely sum
35:06
of $250 million spent on presidential campaigns and
35:11
congressional campaigns? I'm sure that number double S.
35:15
It literally is more and more like a quid pro quo the more
35:20
Elon Musk bankrolled President Trump's re election.
35:23
And for this he's given the keys to America's financial Kingdom.
35:29
Wow, this is new in American history.
35:33
Musk is now using unsecured private servers to Snoop at the
35:38
millions of private accounts of the American people and
35:41
businesses with which he's in competition.
35:46
Where's the business community? Are you afraid of them?
35:49
Will you speak up? Wall Street speaking up in a
35:52
very interesting way. The markets have been really
35:54
rickety these last few days. They're not too comfortable.
35:57
They're not dumb. Pay attention.
36:01
Musk must be identifying individuals he'd like to upend.
36:04
Are they afraid to like members of Congress who are afraid to
36:07
speak out because they're afraid Musk will put more money up
36:10
against him in the next campaign?
36:11
Guess what? He's going to do it anyway.
36:14
So speak out whatever he is concocting with his inverted
36:20
merry band of minions aged 19 to 26.
36:25
They have no security clearances nor experience to work at the US
36:30
Treasury Department. Every person in America must
36:34
have a concern about this. Your Social Security records,
36:38
your health benefits, the profits of your corporation, who
36:41
you do business with, it's all there.
36:44
Their sole mission, his sole mission is to collect private
36:47
confidential information for more self dealing and maybe
36:53
threats and tax cuts for the billionaire class.
36:58
Does Elon Musk have to file a financial disclosure statement
37:01
like all of us? Where is it we have to have
37:04
them? Where's his?
37:07
It seems his will be kept private.
37:11
Musk is ruthless and a self enabler and surely he seeks to
37:16
swipe to wipe out his competitors or spy at will on
37:21
the privilege information of the American people.
37:25
I might ask anyone listening today, why does he have access
37:29
to your mom's Social Security records and your grandpa's
37:33
Medicare? What does he now know about you
37:37
and your family? I appreciate my colleagues
37:41
joining us today, and I will now yield to my colleague, OK,
37:50
Congressman Hank Johnson from the great state of Georgia.
37:54
Thank you so very much for participating.
37:56
And I want to thank also Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman
37:58
Schultz for also substituting when I was not able to be on the
38:01
floor. I yield.
38:04
Thank you, Madam. I appreciate you convening us
38:08
together for this special order today and for your very
38:12
thoughtful comments. And thank you, Mr. Speaker.
38:15
Today I rise to voice my alarm about the rapid descent of our
38:21
democracy into a dictatorship. While Co President Donald Trump
38:27
focuses on expanding his business opportunities globally
38:31
while ignoring his campaign promise to lower the cost of
38:34
living for ordinary Americans, Co President Elon Musk has taken
38:40
a Wrecking Ball to the federal government one agency at a time.
38:46
Congress established the agencies that Musk is trying to
38:49
delete and it is only Congress under our Constitution, not an
38:55
unelected Co president that has the constitutional authority to
39:00
abolish a federal agency. We still live in a democracy,
39:05
which is government of, by and for the people who have the
39:10
right, the precious right, to vote for their leaders.
39:15
We tell our constituents to vote.
39:17
We tell them their votes and their voices matter, that their
39:23
choices shape the future of this country.
39:27
But what does that mean when an unelected billionaire can waltz
39:32
into our agencies and slash and burn the whole thing to the
39:36
ground like a Taliban terrorist? Threatening 2 million federal
39:42
employees to resign under false pretenses?
39:46
Putting other folks out of work? Stopping payments to small
39:50
businesses and nonprofits while illegally putting in purchase
39:55
orders for the State Department to spend $400 million in
40:00
taxpayer money for Tesla pickup trucks.
40:05
This level of corruption is shocking.
40:09
Co President Trump and the Republicans in Congress, all of
40:13
whom have abrogated their legislative power to the King,
40:17
have handed the keys to the nation's treasury to unelected
40:22
Co President Elon Musk. Their actions are taking what we
40:27
know as corruption to a whole new level.
40:31
This is Banana Republic style corruption at its ugliest.
40:37
And while the powerful play their games, Donald Trump, Elon
40:41
Musk and their billionaire buddies get richer while the
40:45
cost of living goes up for everybody else.
40:50
Every day my constituents call me worried.
40:53
Scared, asking how an unelected billionaire they never voted for
41:00
is gutting the very resources they rely on to put food on the
41:03
table and a roof over their heads.
41:07
They see a man who wants billionaires like himself to pay
41:10
nothing while hardworking Americans foot the bill.
41:15
They see him kneecapping the Consumer Financial Protection
41:19
Bureau, an agency created the shield the people from scams,
41:24
fraud and corporate greed. They asked why someone with a
41:28
long history of union busting, worker abuse and blatant
41:32
disregard for labor laws is being allowed to scuttle the
41:37
Department of Labor. And they want to know why a
41:41
billionaire businessman from South Africa, who holds no
41:45
elective office has been given unchecked access and influence
41:50
over their most sensitive personal and financial
41:53
information. Their rights and their future.
41:57
Let me be clear. I'm committed to ensuring that
42:02
President Musk stops this attack on the American people.
42:06
House and Senate Democrats will not stand by like my Republican
42:11
colleagues are doing while Elon Musk hijacks our government.
42:16
We will fight to protect the institutions that serve the
42:20
people, not the privileged. That's what we must do to
42:24
protect democracy and freedom. We will stand.
42:29
We will fight. And with the American people
42:33
aroused in peaceful, nonviolent protests across the country, Mr.
42:38
Speaker, we will win. This country belongs to the
42:42
people, not to the billionaires. Thank you and I yield back.
42:50
Thank you very much, Congressman Johnson.
42:52
And we'd now like to yield time remaining to Congressman Tim
42:56
Kennedy, phenomenal new member from the great state of New
42:59
York, Buffalo. Thank you.
43:02
Let me begin by thanking Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for
43:04
her leadership on this important issue.
43:07
Mr. Speaker, the US government exists to protect the rights and
43:11
well-being of all Americans. People in my district want a
43:15
government that works and works to improve the lives of Western
43:19
New Yorkers and all Americans. People in my district and others
43:24
across the country do not want an unelected billionaire
43:29
dismantling our government for parts and raking in profits in
43:35
the process. Because that's what's happening.
43:38
President Trump has allowed Elon Musk to operate with unchecked
43:43
authority, unilaterally and illegally gutting the agencies
43:47
that protect everything we hold dear, all without necessary
43:51
congressional approval. In my district alone, there are
43:56
8500 plus federal employees, including those at the VA
44:01
Hospital of Buffalo, the Social Security Administration, the
44:06
Niagara Falls Air Reserve Base, and many, many other agencies
44:11
who help our communities each and every day.
44:15
We can't protect the privacy of millions of Americans if Elon
44:19
Musk has access to private taxpayer data, including that of
44:24
Social Security recipients, Medicare beneficiaries and
44:29
taxpayers. We can't advance life saving
44:33
scientific and Cancer Research breakthroughs if Elon Musk
44:38
hollows out National Institutes of Health, and we cannot provide
44:45
the benefits and services to our military heroes that have earned
44:50
and deserve it if Elon Musk drives away federal employees
44:55
who serve our veterans. This is to say nothing of Elon
45:00
Musk's dizzying list of conflicts of interest.
45:04
This is an unelected billionaire who's made those billions in
45:08
large part from taxpayer funded government contracts, and this
45:13
president has handed him unprecedented power to ring out
45:18
hard working families for every penny that they have.
45:22
We can't allow an individual who prioritizes profits above all
45:28
and cozies up to adversaries like China and Russia to make
45:32
decisions for the American people.
45:34
We must continue to fight for the rights and well-being of
45:38
hard working families and put people over billionaire profit.
45:45
Our constituents deserve nothing less.
45:49
I yield back. I don't believe that we have any
46:03
additional speakers. One more is coming.
46:07
OK, An additional speaker is coming.
46:09
I while we're waiting. Thank you very much.
46:11
Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point to this.
46:14
If if there are citizens who are listening, if we look at some of
46:19
the government contracts that the Mr. Musk is engaged in, we
46:24
are trying to make this as complete as we can.
46:28
And so for example, NASA is one of the largest contracts that he
46:33
personally has. 11. Look at this number, $11.8
46:38
billion with NASA and Can you imagine how many subcontractors
46:43
there are on that job? That's just one connection.
46:46
But then we look over to the US Department of Defense of
46:50
Defense, and that is $3.6 billion.
46:57
These are enormous contracts. Companies in my district don't
47:01
have that kind. And I have companies that do
47:03
contract with the government. They don't have contracts that
47:05
size. We look at the Department of
47:08
Commerce, $1.9 million, Trump, Mr. Musk has a contract there.
47:17
Department of Veterans Affairs, that's an interesting one,
47:20
$463,000, not sure what that is for.
47:23
Department of State, $440,000. You can do a lot with $440,000.
47:29
There's a lot of information at the State Department.
47:31
What is that contract for? And then we have a whole series
47:35
with at the other agencies. We know it's well over
47:39
$1,000,000. We can't even track how much it
47:41
is. This is an enormous amount of
47:43
money. I don't know, even General
47:46
Dynamics and some of our large corporations, I don't think have
47:50
this kind of kind of reach. We have no final speaker.
47:55
OK, all right. I just want to thank the speaker
47:58
and and all those who are listing for their indulgence.
48:00
This is a time for the American people to be intrepid and on the
48:04
watch and providing information to your members of Congress
48:08
about information you may have about what Mr. Musk and all of
48:12
his alliances are doing across this country to benefit the
48:17
Republic. Thank you so very much and I
48:19
yield back. Hey, thank you so much for
48:26
listening today. I really do appreciate your
48:28
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48:52
And please take care of yourselves and each other.
48:54
And I'll see you tomorrow.