He’s placing the D in DOGE.
A California Democrat trolled firebrand GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene throughout her DOGE subcommittee listening to Wednesday by bringing a “d–k pic” — and unveiling an enormous picture of Elon Musk.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) took the swipe at Greene (R-Ga.) after she confirmed off X-rated photos of former first son Hunter Biden in compromising positions with a number of girls in a Home Oversight Committee listening to in July of 2023.
“In the last Congress, Chairwoman Greene literally showed a d–k pic in an Oversight Congressional hearing. So I thought I’d bring one as well,” Garcia stated.
“Now this, of course, we know, is President Elon Musk,” he added, holding up a photograph of the Tesla CEO who heads President Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
“He’s also the world’s richest man. He was the biggest political donor in the last election. He has billions of dollars in conflicts of interest. And we know that he’s leading a power grab also abided by and encouraged by Donald Trump.”
Throughout the 2023 listening to, Greene whipped out the specific images of the little Biden’s, properly, little Biden to boost considerations that the 53-year-old former first son flouted the Mann Act, which bars transportation of ladies throughout state traces “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”
The smutty pics of Biden had been censored and she or he warned viewers that “parental discretion is advised” — however Democrats had been nonetheless outraged by the transfer.
The Wednesday session was the DOGE subcommittee’s first main listening to and it was meant to be the opening salvo in Greene’s quest to craft legislative options to authorities inefficiencies.
The subcommittee, which is beneath the umbrella of the Home Oversight Committee, enhances Musk’s DOGE and the DOGE caucuses in each chambers of Congress.
“The American people are in debt slavery to everyone who owns our debt…it will destroy all of us,” Greene declared throughout her opening remarks.
“Let’s be brutally honest about how this massive debt came to be in the first place,” she continued.
“It came from Congress, and from elected presidential administrations. And I believe enslaving our nation in debt is one of the biggest betrayals against the American people by its own elected government.”
The listening to then rapidly devolved right into a partisan bickering match as Democrats harped on Musk’s outsized position in proscribing the federal authorities and accused President Trump of breaking the legislation.
“People said they were upset about TikTok but I’m upset about the guy who runs Twitter, who for sure is doing nefarious things!,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas.) shouted.
“It is time for us to do our jobs and rein in this rogue actor known as Elon Musk.”
Oversight Committee Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) blasted Trump’s and Musk’s method to authorities bloat as a “wrecking ball” and known as for extra deliberate reforms to curb improper funds and higher implement the tax code.
“A wrecking ball is not going to do it. And we’re not going to support that approach to waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government,” he stated.
Republicans took turns firing again at Democrats whereas peppering them with questions on authorities waste.
“We are uncovering what could be the biggest money laundering scandal in American history,” Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) hit again at one level. “And the opposite facet of the aisle may care much less. … all they wish to discuss [is] Elon Musk incessantly.
“I’d like to ask if Democrats really care about unlike the bureaucrats making decisions over our lives, where were they whenever their God Anthony Fauci was forcing vaccine and mask mandates on the American people?”
Democrats had introduced in Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of Authorities Affairs on the Venture on Authorities Oversight, as their important witness to counter the three specialists Republicans had on the listening to.
Hedtler-Gaudette wore sun shades through the listening to as he suffers from type-2 Usher syndrome which has made him blind.
Throughout the listening to, he was vital of the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the workforce and argued that there’s a lot of nuance to improper funds made by the federal government.
“Sometimes improper payments are a function of bad record keeping sometimes they are a function of outdated technology systems,” he argued.
“Sometimes they come about through human error and sometimes they come about through negligence,” he continued.
“It just simply is not the case that improper payments are only a function of bad people doing bad things with bad intent.”
At one level, he cautioned that Trump’s determination to fireside over a dozen inspectors normal may hurt efforts to root out authorities bloat.
“It completely undermines our ability to root out waste, fraud and abuse,” Whitson stated.
However amid all of the preventing and grandstanding through the heated two-hour listening to, a number of witnesses managed to get in a number of key recommendations for lawmakers to judge.
Stewart Whitson, the senior director of Federal Affairs on the Basis for Authorities Accountability, careworn that Trump and Musk have “only scratched the surface.”
“If this much fraud has been exposed in a few weeks, imagine what else is buried under layers of red tape and government excuses,” Whitson, a former FBI agent, stated.
“Congress can support the president in carrying out his DOGE effort by making all executive branch employees at will, codifying the president’s authority to fire unproductive or insubordinate agency employees as needed,” he added.
Haywood Talcove, the CEO of Lexis Nexis Threat Resolution, defined that almost all of presidency businesses are utilizing outdated know-how however are additionally hobbled by a cumbersome algorithm.
“They’re using very dated technology,” Talcove stated.
“One of the things I think has to happen is the simplification of these processes and systems, and then just use the technology that we use every day in the private sector.”
Talcove additionally contended that the 1974 Privateness Act wanted changes to make sure that the feds may higher crack down on fraudulent funds.
In the meantime, Daybreak Royal, the director of the Council on Welfare Fraud, urged lawmakers to handle fraud inside social advantages applications.
“Making sure vulnerable citizens have access to these welfare programs should not mean that we simply turn a blind eye to integrity,” she warned.
“If we do not pursue the prevention, detection and prosecution of fraud, taxpayers become the victims.”
On the finish of the listening to, Greene teased plans to develop a report on legislative options to authorities waste that she intends to launch over the approaching months.
Republican leaders have additionally been in search of methods to codify a few of Musk’s and Trump’s actions into legislation as DOGE faces authorized obstacles within the courts.
