During Wednesday’s House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) discussed Elon Musk's access to private information through his work at DOGE.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Chairman, can I ask a point of Parliamentary Inquiry?
00:07Yes.
00:08Point of Parliamentary Inquiry, then I'll do the strike of the last word.
00:14Is there a mechanism where the committee could compel Mr. Musk to come and testify before
00:23the committee?
00:24Because we are happy.
00:25I think the Democrats would be happy to support that motion or that mechanism if the majority
00:32is willing to oblige us, but we are happy to do it.
00:37We'll take it under advisement.
00:39You're recognized to strike the last word.
00:41All right, Mr. Chairman.
00:44I move to strike the last word.
00:47So Ways and Means Democrats are demanding answers and fighting to protect taxpayers'
00:52privacy and access to their Social Security benefits.
00:55Elon Musk's DOJ has pushed for access to sensitive systems that hold private data on millions
01:01of Americans.
01:02These include the central system the government uses to pay its bills, database that stores
01:08tax return and Social Security data used to set and pay Social Security benefits.
01:13These databases include highly sensitive information, including taxpayers' Social Security numbers,
01:19addresses, income information, debts, and property records.
01:23Republicans are letting an unelected billionaire ransack our government.
01:29It's not just dangerous, it's potentially illegal.
01:33We need to know what information Musk has access and what DOJ has done with people's
01:37personal information, especially if Musk's tax bureaus have stolen information for unauthorized
01:42purposes.
01:44President Trump has made it clear there will be no guardrails or oversight on Elon Musk
01:48and his department and agency heads are being forced to get in line.
01:53That's why we have inspector generals to prevent fraud.
01:56But Trump has fired them all.
01:58If the Trump administration won't hold Musk accountable, Congress must.
02:07Congress has the power to conduct oversight on the executive branch and it is our duty
02:12to protect taxpayer and Social Security information.
02:15That is what Democrats are trying to do today.
02:18We have two resolutions of inquiry before the committee and all they do is demand information
02:22regarding DOJ's intrusions at Treasury, IRS, and the Social Security administration.
02:28We're asking whether Musk and his team access protected information like Social Security
02:32numbers and benefit information, addresses, tax debts, wage records, and bank information.
02:38We need to find out what's going on.
02:41But we can only do this if our Republican colleagues join us.
02:46And that's what we're asking them to do, to join us.
02:50Republicans either, in my opinion, don't want to know what's going on, don't care what's
02:56going on, or are too scared of Musk to do anything about it.
03:01And trust me, I get it.
03:03Musk has a half a trillion dollar baseball bat that he's willing to use electorally to
03:08make sure that any of you who step out of line, he puts you back in your place quickly.
03:13So I get it.
03:14I get why you're scared.
03:16I get why you're not protecting the tax information and Social Security information of millions
03:21of Americans.
03:22I get it.
03:24But we need you to have courage.
03:26We need you to step up.
03:28We need you to actually protect your constituents.
03:31Because what's going to happen is when Elon Musk does all the damage and he's gone, you
03:36will be holding the bag.
03:39And then there'll be no one there to protect you.
03:42So don't let him bully you guys into, like, not doing your jobs.
03:46We need you to do your jobs.
03:48And listen, I get it.
03:50It's basic math.
03:52You have more votes than us.
03:53You can vote anything down that you want.
03:56But we need you all to step up and protect the American taxpayer.
04:01With that, I yield back.