Musk shocks lawmakers, setting himself on collision course

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is on a collision course with lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are starting to challenge his authority.

Senate Republicans acknowledge they need to cut government spending, but Musk’s bold decision to lock federal workers out of the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID), which Musk called “a ball of worms” and a “criminal organization,” caught them by surprise.

They are now questioning the basis of Musk’s authority to shutter an agency Congress funds annually through the appropriations bills for the State Department and foreign operations.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she has questions about whether President Trump’s authorization is enough to empower Musk to override Congress’s funding directives.

“The president is suggesting that he has authorization. I think there is more than some question,” she said.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Musk or other senior administration officials need to notify Congress in advance before shuttering or reorganizing federal agencies.

Collins said whether Musk had the authority to shut down USAID “is a very legitimate question.”

“There is a requirement in the law for 15 days’ notice of any reorganization. We clearly did not get that. We got the letter yesterday,” she said.

Collins said the law “also calls for a detailed explanation of any reorganizations, renaming of bureaus, shifting of centers, and again we have not received that.”

She said she would talk to fellow Appropriations Committee members “about our next steps.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) warned that simply shutting down a federal agency such as USAID would violate the Constitution in a strict sense, but he argued former President Biden also pushed boundaries with aggressive uses of executive power.  

He said it “would be helpful” for Trump or Musk to get approval from Congress before ordering drastic changes at a federal agency. 

“At some point it’s going to require congressional action to have staying power,” he said.

Other Republicans warned that the sudden closure of the nation’s chief foreign assistance agency would undermine U.S. diplomatic efforts in countries where China is trying to gain influence by building out local infrastructure.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said foreign aid is necessary to match China’s efforts to expand its global influence.

“I have felt for a long time that USAID is our way to combat the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, which is China’s effort to really gain influence around the world, including Africa, South America and the Western Hemisphere,” he told reporters in the Russell Senate Office Building.

Wicker said “if there’s massive fraud” at the agency, “we need to know about that,” but he cautioned “we need an aid program to match the Chinese effort.”  

Wicker said he wasn’t sure what “emergency powers” Musk acted on, echoing the concerns of some colleagues.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who represents a major farm state, voiced his alarm that hundreds of millions of dollars in American-grown food aid will spoil because of the freeze on all U.S. foreign assistance.

“I urge [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio to distribute the $340 million in American-grown food currently stalled in U.S. ports to reach those in need. Time is running out before this life-saving aid perishes,” he posted on social media.

Republicans have been wary of crossing Trump on any issue, including those on which Musk has taken the stage. Some have defended the president’s decision to tap Musk to root out waste at federal departments and agencies.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) argued that Musk hadn’t “closed” USAID but instead paused its activity to review its programs.

“I don’t think they’re closing an agency, but I do think they have the right to review funding and how those decisions are made and what priorities are being funded. I think that’s probably true of any administration when they come in,” he said.  

Democrats have publicly signaled they are growing more and more worried about Musk’s influence as federal workers are offered buyouts, officials working for Musk take over federal payment systems and USAID is dismantled.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) called Musk’s attacks on USAID “despicable” and pointed out that his company Starlink accepted funding from the agency to provide internet coverage for Ukraine.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said of Musk: “This dude is probably one of the most unintelligent billionaires I have ever met or seen or witnessed.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a detailed letter on Monday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asked for answers on the payment system.

Musk gaining access to the Treasury Department’s federal payments system, which includes the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans, has also raised questions from Republicans.

“We Americans have always treasured our privacy and I’m very concerned about Mr. Musk or any of his assistants going into federal agencies and demanding personal information on employees. I’m not sure where the authority for that would come from,” Collins said.

“It’s my understanding that some of Mr. Musk’s assistants have requested access to classified information for which they are not cleared. So that’s a problem as well,” she added.

The age of Musk’s assistants has also raised eyebrows in the Senate. Some of the aides to the tech mogul who have worked to take over payment systems are reportedly as young as 19.

Democrats accused Musk of breaking the law and provoking a constitutional crisis.

“Elon Musk is already breaking the law right now. Law enforcement officials should be taking action. Where are they?” said Warren.

“He seems to be running the country. He’s running every dollar that moves in or out of the federal system. Every Social Security check, every payment on a bridge construction project, and every dollar that goes to a military base around the world is, right now, evidently under Elon Musk’s control,” she said.

“This is a constitutional crisis,” Warren declared.

Democrats say they will challenge Musk’s recent moves and authority in court. 

Bessent, however, has disputed this, telling Republican lawmakers that Musk does not have control over the federal payments system. He said Musk has gained read-only access to the system.

The White House says Musk is now officially serving Trump as a special government employee and has a top-secret security clearance.

Trump on Monday said that Musk “won’t do anything without our approval.”

“We’ll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won’t,” he said.