President Donald Trump has claimed the spending cuts he proposes won’t impact Medicare and Social Security, but new reporting on the sudden departure of the U.S. Treasury Department’s highest-ranking career official after a dispute over the payment systems that distribute those benefits sparked concern that Trump’s billionaire backer, Elon Musk, could have plans for the popular programs relied on by millions of Americans.
The Washington Post reported Friday that David Lebryk, who has served in numerous high-level roles at the Treasury Department since 1989 and was temporarily named acting treasury secretary by Trump before the confirmation this week of his nominee, Scott Bessent, would soon leave the department.
According to the newspaper, Lebryk has clashed with allies of Musk, whom Trump has named to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), over access to payment systems that the agency uses to distribute more than $6 trillion annually to households and businesses.
Social Security and Medicare benefits, paychecks for federal employees, and payments to government contractors and grant recipients all flow through the payment systems run by the Bureau of Fiscal Service, among thousands of other functions.
Since Trump won the election in November, officials Musk has named as DOGE staffers have been asking for access to the payment systems, and the demands have been reiterated since the president took office last week, the Post reported.
Mark Mazur, who served in the department under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said the push for access to the systems from an advisory committee aligned with a partisan agenda suggests “bad intentions” from Musk and his allies.
“This is a mechanical job—they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever,” said Mazur. “It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due. It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda.”
Since Trump’s inauguration, the new administration has signaled its desire to disrupt government funding of long-established programs, most notably when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo directing federal agencies to “pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.”
That memo, which was later rescinded, raised alarm about a freeze on the funding of programs like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and Medicaid.
The executive order that created DOGE last week ordered agencies to ensure the advisory body has “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.” DOGE’s push for access to the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems suggests that it also wants control of those mechanisms.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, said the dispute that led to Lebryk’s imminent departure showed that “the Trump administration’s claims that they won’t touch Social Security and Medicare are obviously lies.”
“Musk and his DOGE cronies are already demanding unprecedented access to the payment system that distributes these funds and are ousting any civil servant who gets in their way,” said Owens. “It’s barely been two weeks and Musk has already caused a level of chaos and inefficiency we’ve never before seen in government.”
The idea that “good government technocrats could work with Musk and DOGE to improve technology and services” has been proven to be “all grift,” added Owens in a post on Musk’s social media platform, X.
I know that it is nice to believe in a fantasy in which good government technocrats could work with Musk and DOGE to improve technology and services.
— Lindsay Owens (@owenslindsay1) January 31, 2025
But when the evidence that supports the alternate theory—that this is all grift—keeps piling up you have to update your priors. https://t.co/2oLHtJ1iNB
While advocates and lawmakers have said DOGE could work to reduce military spending, which has risen by 50% since the beginning of the 21st century and hit $820 billion in 2023 despite the Pentagon failing seven consecutive audits, the Trump administration has appeared laser-focused in its first weeks on addressing spending that impacts millions of low-income and working Americans.
“Elon Musk, who NO ONE VOTED FOR, wants to mess with our earned benefits,” said Social Security Works, an advocacy group that works to protect the benefit for retired Americans. “Hell no.”
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