Democrats on Monday unveiled a new platform for US whistleblowers to counteract President Donald Trump’s “efficiency czar,” Elon Musk’s attempts to cut federal expenditure.
They said whistleblowers would be “invaluable” to the mission of holding those undermining democracy accountable and announced an internet platform to report possible law-breaking.
Together with Lieutenant Gary Peters, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement that President Trump has demonstrated “a blatant disregard for the rule of law and a callousness for the American people” in the first three weeks of his office.
“From the DOGE takeover of the Treasury Department to the federal funding freeze, this administration has wreaked havoc on programmes that American families, seniors, students, veterans, and others have come to depend upon.”
With Trump’s approval, Musk has been using computer systems to find waste and fraud while firing employees as he moves through the US government, from the Treasury to the US Agency for International Development.
Critics have filed lawsuits nationwide to stop Musk’s self-styled “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), claiming that most of the action is illegal and violates the oversight duty granted to Congress by the US Constitution.
They point out that, despite his deputies having access to the private information of millions of federal employees, Musk was not elected or confirmed by the Senate and had significant conflicts of interest as the biggest government contractor.
Just months before Musk tried to close the agency, US media reported that USAID was looking into its partnership with Musk’s communications company, Starlink.
