US Treasury says Musk team has 'read-only access' to payment data

WASHINGTON — 

The U.S. Treasury said connected Tuesday that Elon Musk's government-efficiency squad has been granted "read-only access" to its outgo strategy codes and denied that this chopped disconnected immoderate authorities payments including for Social Security oregon Medicare.

The confirmation of a Musk associate's entree to the strategy codes came successful a missive from a Treasury authoritative to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. The letters said the reappraisal was being undertaken to "maximize outgo integrity for agencies and the public."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not commented connected reports successful caller days that Musk's informal Department of Government Efficiency had gained entree to the strategy liable for disbursing much than $6 trillion of yearly authorities spending.

Several 1000 radical gathered extracurricular the Treasury connected Tuesday to protestation DOGE's Treasury entree amid his sweeping incursion into authorities operations, which this week led to the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development, merging its assistance ngo into the State Department.

The outgo strategy reappraisal "is not resulting successful the suspension oregon rejection of immoderate outgo instructions submitted to Treasury by different national agencies crossed the government," Jonathan Blum, main lawman adjunct caput successful the Office of Legislative Affairs wrote to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.

The DOGE squad astatine Treasury conducting the reappraisal is led by exertion steadfast main enforcement Tom Krause, whom the missive described arsenic a "Treasury employee." Krause is CEO of Cloud Software Group, which owns erstwhile autarkic bundle firms Citrix and Tibco.

Wyden raised alarms implicit the play erstwhile reports archetypal surfaced that a squad nether the absorption of Musk, appointed by President Donald Trump to behaviour a wide reappraisal of authorities operations, was astatine the Treasury.

"I'm definite the Treasury Secretary and the president privation to prevention look and downplay the risks arsenic Elon Musk seizes power, but thing they're saying is believable oregon trustworthy," Wyden said successful effect to Blum's letter.

Outside the Treasury, protesters waved placards with slogans including: "Nobody Elected Musk" and "Bessent, you person 1 job!! Protect our money. You already failed."

About 3 twelve Democratic members of the Senate and House of Representatives tried to participate the Treasury to face Bessent connected the contented but they said they were denied access.

Rebecca Weiss, who lives successful suburban Maryland, told Reuters that she attended the protestation due to the fact that she is disquieted astir what Musk volition bash with the payments data.

"He's evidently a information guy, and present helium has access, potentially, to everybody's idiosyncratic identifiable information, which helium mightiness instrumentality vantage of for his concern purposes," she said. "The bottommost enactment is, we didn't elite him."