At Hearing, Oversight Democrats Vote to Subpoena Elon Musk to Testify on Reckless Actions and Abuse of Public Trust

Washington, D.C. (February 6, 2025)—Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led Committee Democrats in calling out the Trump Administration for its unprecedented and widespread attacks on the federal workforce and the government programs and services Americans depend on for their safety and wellbeing.   

“President Trump and Elon Musk are using a wrecking ball to systematically dismember the government piece by piece.  The American people deserve better, and we in Congress have a constitutional duty to uphold the laws that we created.  We must protect the government workers, programs, and services that the future of this country depends on, and stop an unconstitutional assault on the government,” said Ranking Member Connolly.  

He continued, “Who is this unelected billionaire, that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement, and have sweeping reform or changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight, or concurrence?  Therefore, Mr. Chairman, given his prominence and his importance, I move that the Committee subpoena Elon Musk to come before it as a witness at the earliest possible moment.”  

The hearing included testimony from Dr. William “Bill” Resh, C.C. Crawford Professor in Management and Performance at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy; Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa; and Thomas A. Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste.  

Committee Democrats proved that the Republican Rip Off is making America weak by destroying the critical, lifesaving federal services people rely on every day. 

• Rep. Dave Min pointed out that it’s impossible to make the cuts President Trump and Elon Musk have targeted without steep cuts to programs and services that all Americans count on:  “The entire domestic discretionary budget that’s the primary focus of today's hearing is only $917 billion.  You can cut everything—education, food safety, air traffic safety, wildfire prevention, affordable housing, the FBI, the DOJ—and you're still not even halfway to the amount that Elon Musk and the Repub[licans] are trying to cut.  You can fire every single person in the federal government—that’s 4% of the federal budget, a tiny fraction of what you’re looking to cut right now.” 
   
• Rep. Yassamin Ansari described the many roles federal workers play:  “They make sure that your highways are running smoothly and safely so we can get to work on time.  They make sure your grandparents get their Social Security checks on time so that they can afford food.  In my district, we have multiple VA health centers to make sure our veterans get access to basic health care.”
   
• Rep. Lateefah Simon described what she saw in her district after President Trump froze federal funding last week:  “Housing is on the line, as is childcare, as is Medicaid, as is Medicare.  After this meeting, I will go and visit the president of a children’s hospital. He’s in my office right now and I went to go literally sit with the folks in the NICU last week.  Care is in jeopardy. There is a heart transplant that is in jeopardy.  A small child.  I would like for us to look in the faces of that parent.” 
   
• Rep. Melanie Stansbury highlighted the indifference of President Trump and Elon Musk to the pain and fear of everyday people hurt by their attack on the federal government:  “While Trump was golfing, the Medicaid systems were shut down and locked out.  Hospitals and clinics were wondering if they were going to be able to keep their doors open.  Food assistance and homeless programs across New Mexico were shut out of their grant programs that keep families literally fed and off the streets.  Head Starts, preschools, and children's programs were wondering if they were going to be able to make payroll the next day or by the end of the week.  And while Elon Musk and a group of teenage software engineers were hacking your personal data at the Treasury Department, shutting down DOJ, the CIA, USAID, and ending diversity initiatives in the military—saying that the United States military could not honor Dr. Martin Luther King—our proud military personnel and veterans who put their lives on the line every day for this country were wondering if they were going to get their paychecks and veterans benefits.” 

Committee Republicans’ witness Iowa Governor Reynolds emphasized that she did not follow Elon Musk’s reckless approach. 

• When Ranking Member Connolly asked if Governor Reynolds had put her wealthiest donor in charge of deciding which agencies to abolish and how many people to fire in her reforms, she strongly disagreed and asserted, “We did it without any layoffs whatsoever.  We made that commitment…Absolutely no layoffs.”  
   
• In response to a question from Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi about the use of outside firms to help with the reform effort, Governor Reynolds confirmed that she “did not at any time give this outside firm access to the private personal information of all Iowans in the state’s payment systems.”  
   
• In an exchange with Governor Reynolds, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam highlighted the danger and absurdity of Trump’s decision to order a chaotic federal funding freeze and let Elon Musk run rampant through our government agencies and data systems:
   
  • Rep Subramanyam asked, “When you made DOGE reforms in Iowa, did you freeze all spending while you were doing your review?”  The Governor responded, “No, we did not.” 
     
  • Rep. Subramanyam pressed, “And when you brought in those consultants, did you let those consultants take over your payment systems and give access to every person’s personal health information to them?”  The Governor answered, “We did not.”  
     
  • Rep. Subramanyam asked, “Do you think it’s okay for outside consultants with no security clearance to handle classified documents?”  The Governor answered, “No.” 

Committee Democrats underscored that Co-Presidents Trump and Musk are dismantling the federal workforce to install political loyalists and put the interests of billionaire oligarchs over Americans. 

• When Rep. Emily Randall asked about the effects of Musk’s indiscriminate attacks on federal workers, Dr. Resh explained:  “When you’re making broad cuts indiscriminately, you’re not choosing, per se, poor performers.  You’re just making blanket cuts.  Again, it’s going to create an environment of fear, an environment of uncertainty, and you’re certainly not going to be attracting the best people to public service under those conditions.  And so, what I would say to you, is that what it will do is diminish the very capacity that you’re looking for in government.” 
   
• Rep. Stephen Lynch raised concerns about President Trump handing sensitive or classified information to unvetted individuals, including the DOGE team’s unfettered access to Americans’ private data, Dr. Resh said:  “Some of the risks are substantial particularly given the extent to which this data could be used in training foundational models that Mr. Musk and his team could use to do this data analysis.  I have no idea—actually no one has any idea—exactly what servers are being used with the access to this data.  There is privileged information that the DOGE team could use to position themselves or their private interests as players in government contracts.”
   
• Rep. Summer Lee admonished Trump:  “In the first week alone, Trump fired 17 inspectors general across 18 agencies.  These are nonpartisan watchdogs, and this includes the one from the Treasury Department, who could have served as a guard rail against Musk’s efforts.  The hiring freeze, stopping federal spending, and trying to strong arm federal workers to leave their jobs are all actions designed to make our government fail and move things over to the private sector, further fattening the bank accounts of these billionaires, these unelected billionaires.” 
   
• In response to Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s questioning about whether unelected, unaccountable billionaires like Elon Musk should be making decisions for the federal government, Dr. Resh pointed out, “[The American people] should have someone making decisions who’s taken an oath to the Constitution.”